While the investigation into the cause of the serious train collision near Križevci continues, the whole country is talking about the modest local who used his forklift to help the injured.
As the results of the police investigation and expert analysis following this morning's collision between a freight and passenger train in Škrinjari are eagerly awaited, one name has been repeated countless times since this morning. It is Božidar Zrinski, a local resident who found himself in the right place at the crucial moment and sprang into action without hesitation.
His name was mentioned by everyone-from the minister and county prefect to the heads of the police, fire department, emergency services, and Croatian Railways. However, the greatest gratitude comes from the passengers who encountered Zrinski in a completely unexpected way.
After firefighters, of whom there were 51 on the scene, pulled passengers from the wreckage, a new problem emerged. The injured and shocked individuals needed to be safely lowered down the steep slope that stretched from the tracks to the access road. At that moment, the resourceful Zrinski came up with an idea that would make him the hero of the day-he used his forklift.
"I was just returning from the gas station when I saw what had happened. Since I have a facility nearby, I went to get the machine, a forklift, and headed toward the trains. By then, the ambulance had already arrived. I lowered the injured with the forklift because I don't know how they would have managed otherwise. How were the passengers? Very confused, and there were some bloody ones. Among the passengers were also two small children who were not injured. The children weren't crying, but they found the whole situation interesting. Still, these were scenes hard to describe, but I just did my civic duty," Božidar Zrinski told Jutarnji list.
The report of the train collision came in just after 10 a.m. on August 8, 2026. The passenger train carried a total of 28 people-26 passengers, the driver, and the conductor. In the accident, six people sustained serious injuries, including the driver of the passenger train, while 11 others suffered minor injuries. Fortunately, the two young children among the passengers were not hurt.
The tragedy could have been even greater had the freight train heading toward Vrbovec not been empty. Although there is speculation that it failed to stop at the crossing and ran a red light, the exact cause of the collision will only be known after the police, in coordination with the state attorney's office and the Agency for Investigation of Accidents, gather all the data and make a substantive decision.
