Tourist speedboat sank, passengers fled before police arrived

The tourist speedboat "Nađa" (73 BD), registered for commercial purposes in Budva, sank last night shortly after 19 p.m., for reasons that are still unknown, while it was moored on the eastern side of the Veselin pier in Lepetani near Tivat.

When the approximately seven-meter-long speedboat began to sink, several people were on board, some of whom, according to the locals of Lepetane, jumped ashore while others jumped into the sea. Fortunately, there were no injuries or major pollution of the sea in the incident, as the "Nađa" was powered by an outboard gasoline engine.

The sunken boat was pulled out of the sea today by crane and raised ashore on the pier where the incident occurred the previous evening. There is no visible damage to the hull of the speedboat, so it is assumed that the most likely cause of the incident was overloading of the vessel.

A team from the Tivat Security Department arrived at the scene, and "Vijesti" was told that they had spoken to the skipper, or the owner of the sunken vessel, and immediately informed the Navigation Safety Inspection of the Port Authority in Kotor, or the operator on duty at the 129 hotline of the Maritime Safety and Port Management Authority of Montenegro (UPSUL), about the incident.

"In a conversation with the skipper, or rather the owner of the speedboat, we were told that some of their friends were allegedly riding it and that it was not a commercial boat tour. According to their claims, there were five or six foreign citizens on the boat, none of whom were injured during the incident. An official note has been made and it will be forwarded for further action to the competent authorities - the Navigation Safety Inspectorate, UPSUL and the Directorate for Inspection Affairs of Montenegro," an interlocutor from the Tivat police told "Vijesti" unofficially, noting that none of the passengers who were on the sunken speedboat were found at the scene of the incident when the police patrol arrived.