Emergency Helicopter Had Nowhere to Land on Zlarin
The helipad has been buried under waste for two years, forcing a medical helicopter to make an improvised landing on a beach yesterday, causing a delay of nearly an hour.
The helipad has been buried under waste for two years, forcing a medical helicopter to make an improvised landing on a beach yesterday, causing a delay of nearly an hour.
A woman who arrived on the island of Zlarin for her annual holiday on Monday afternoon suddenly fainted in a holiday home, after which she was transported by medical helicopter to KBC Split. However, what should have been a rapid intervention turned into an agonizing wait because the helicopter could not use the official helipad and had to land on a beach near the pier, according to the victim's family and friends.
According to them, the helipad on Zlarin has been neglected and unusable for over two years, buried under construction waste, rubbish, bulky waste, and glass. "The problem isn't the people. The problem is the system," said a friend of the woman who was taken to hospital.
The woman's mother, Zrinka Petrić, told Index.hr that her daughter fainted on Monday, August 3, 2026, around 4 p.m. Due to the unusable helipad, the medical helicopter arrived more than 45 minutes after the call. "Even the doctor who came in the helicopter was surprised at how long the helicopter waited to land. Although we were also surprised that we waited 40, more than 45 minutes for the emergency services to arrive, but that was the reason," said Petrić.
She added that just clearing the beach of swimmers, children, and equipment took an additional 20 minutes, so the total time from the call to landing was nearly an hour. "They had to move the swimmers, children, equipment, so that it could land and everything. So, just the moving took another 20 minutes, plus until it arrived, that was almost an hour," she explained.
According to information available to the family, this is not an isolated case. "Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. According to the information we have, this is already the sixth time this season that a medical helicopter has come to Zlarin and has no safe place to land because the official helipad is not in operation," warned a friend of the injured woman.
Petrić claims that the Zlarin firefighters have already sent appeals to the authorities in the City of Šibenik and the company Zeleni grad, which is responsible for maintaining cleanliness on the island. "The firefighters have already written, I don't know how many appeals to the City of Šibenik and their city administration, Zeleni grad, who are responsible for maintaining cleanliness on the island, i.e., waste collection. And there is such inertia involved that it is now truly concerning," she said.
Although everything ended well, the family and friends warn that the consequences could have been fatal. The woman was, in fact, released from the hospital in Split the same evening because tests showed she was healthy, and the collapse was attributed to heat and dehydration. "She was actually released from the hospital in Split last night because the tests showed she was healthy. In principle, she had no prior health issues. This collapse happened, although the diagnosis is syncope, I think due to the heat, due to dehydration," explained Petrić.
However, a friend of the injured woman emphasizes that luck may not always be on their side. "Today everything ended well. But only because, fortunately, it wasn't a stroke, heart attack, or another emergency where minutes are crucial," she said. Petrić added: "So, this has been going on for years. It's lucky no one has paid the ultimate price yet."
Petrić stressed that residents should take concrete steps to solve the problem. "Even the residents should do something, start some petitions or I don't know what else, actually, to get that mechanism moving, to get the services to come, to clean it up, to fence off the helipad and install cameras, so that someone can't just bring their own waste whenever they feel like it," she said.
Index.hr has sent inquiries about the condition of the helipad and previous warnings to the City of Šibenik and the Institute for Emergency Medicine of Šibenik-Knin County, but their responses had not arrived at the time of publication.
