Keko Towed Tourists on Pedal Boats with His Istranka
Karlo Peša, known as Keko, set sail from Omiš on Thursday night toward the fire and, with his six-meter istranka, rescued dozens of tourists, including families with children on pedal boats.
Karlo Peša, known as Keko, set sail from Omiš on Thursday night toward the fire and, with his six-meter istranka, rescued dozens of tourists, including families with children on pedal boats.
The catastrophic fire near Omiš brought out the best in ordinary citizens, and one of the first to set sail to rescue those in danger was Karlo Peša, owner of an istranka. On the night from Thursday to Friday, as the fiery blaze driven by the bura wind raged along the coast, Peša set out from Omiš toward the epicenter of the disaster.
According to his account to DalmacijaDanas, the conditions at sea were far from ideal. "It was already too late for Lokva; the fire front had already passed toward here... The closed highway and the first footage from the scene told me everything, and the situation at sea was no better: night, the bura carrying burning embers onto the boat, we had to douse it with seawater to keep my istranka from catching fire," Peša recounted.
In Čelina, he boarded the first group of 12 tourists and transported them to Stanići. But that was just the beginning. "And then we loaded about ten of them onto the boat, and another ten who were on pedal boats, families with children, and towed them all the way to Omiš!" he recounted.
Towing tourists on pedal boats lasted about 45 minutes, maybe even a full hour, as he puts it. His boat has only 15 horsepower, and the istranka is six meters long, making the whole feat even more impressive.
Peša admits it's terrifying to think what would have happened if he hadn't arrived in time to the tourists who had sought refuge in the sea. "The bura would have carried them on pedal boats all the way to Brač, no question!" he warned.
After they disembarked, he didn't stop. "Later, other people with boats arrived, and we disembarked and went to help put out the fire around a house in the Omiš settlement because the fire had reached our homes. We were dousing with water, sawing wood that night to prevent the fire from spreading..." he added.
He doesn't know all the people he saved. Some were foreigners, some spoke Croatian, but he says that two of the evacuees came to thank him at his restaurant the next day. Alongside Peša, other citizens with boats provided assistance that night, as well as medical staff from Split who offered help.
