Zagreb: Police on Wednesday arrested a crew member of a catamaran that collided with a sailboat in Croatia's central Adriatic, killing four Czech nationals.
In one of the worst maritime accidents in the country in years, the catamaran carrying more than 100 people hit the French-flagged sailboat with eight Czechs onboard on Sunday.
Three Czech nationals were killed instantly in the collision between the islands of Brac and Solta.
Four were rescued from the sea while the body of the fourth victim, who had gone missing, was recovered from the sunken sailboat on Monday.
"An investigation is led against a 33-year-old Croatian man who was arrested on suspicion of committing a criminal offence against traffic safety," police told AFP in a statement.
He will be handed over to a detention supervisor later on Wednesday, it added.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said it was suspected that the crew did not follow all the measures needed to avoid the collision.
"There was a breach of maritime safety regulations, which resulted in a collision and the deaths of four people," he told reporters.
The minister declined to confirm Croatian media reports that the person arrested was the vessel's first officer.
There were 118 passengers and seven crew members on the catamaran, operated by a private domestic company.
No one aboard the catamaran was injured.
Three Czech nationals sustained minor injuries, while one remained hospitalised with serious spinal wounds, according to a hospital in the port of Split.
The recovery of the sunken sailboat has not yet started, and experts said it will be a very demanding operation due to the depth of more than 50 metres (164 feet) at which it lies.
The investigations into the causes of the accident are led by the regional prosecutor's office and the national air, maritime and rail accident investigation agency (AIN).
Last year, the country of 3.8 million people hosted nearly 22 million tourists, many of them flocking to its stunning Adriatic coast, dotted with more than 1,000 islands and islets.
