October the 24th, 2021 - Dubrovnik police have shown that their Central Croatian colleagues haven't been forgotten as they donate over one tonne of mandarins from this southern Dalmatian area, more precisely the Neretva Valley, to the Petrinja and Glina police forces.

Central Croatia has had an extremely difficult time over the last year since the devastating earthquake struck Petrinja back at the very end of December last year. The area has far from recovered from that horrendous natural disaster and the authorities there have been working hard than ever before as a result.

As Morski writes, almost ten whole months have passed since the devastating earthquake that hit Sisak-Moslavina County at the end of last year, and Dubrovnik police officers have offered a small but extremely thoughtful gesture in the form of much-loved southern Dalmatian fruit.

Together with the Chief of the Dubrovnik-Neretva Police Administration Ivan Pavlicevic, the Deputy Chief of the Police Administration Miro Bajo, as well as police officers from the Neretva Valley from which this fruit was sourced, they delivered mandarins for all employees of the Petrinja and Glina police stations in a simple act of kindness and solidarity.

The aforementioned citrus gift is a sign of togetherness and friendship towards all police officers and employees of the aforementioned police stations, who suffered the most in the earthquake of December 2020. On October the 21st, the mandarins were handed over to the Petrinja police station in person by the Deputy Chief of the Dubrovnik-Neretva Police Administration, Miro Bajo.

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During surveillance of the European Union's maritime border with Turkey, as part of the Frontex Poseidon mission, four naval officers from Dubrovnik, Croatia rescued 36 migrants from an unmanned dinghy in the Aegean Sea on February 10, according to Dubrovnik police who were monitoring the area.

A migrant dinghy was observed in the area from the Evros (Marica) river delta heading toward Makri, Greece. Cries were heard from the small inflatable vessel, and officers immediately came to the rescue.

Croatia Police: Migrants on Dinghy Chilled, Dehydrated, Unconscious

"They found 36 foreign nationals on the dinghy, including five children, 11 women and 20 men. All were in poor health: chilled, dehydrated and some were unconscious. The inflatable had run out of fuel and the sea temperature where they were found was only 2 degrees Celsius. It is difficult to say what might have happened to them had they not been rescued,” the Dubrovnik-Neretva Police Department pointed out.

The migrants were transported to a police vessel where officers provided them with water, hot drinks and thermal foil to warm them, after which they were transported to the port of Alexandropolis. They were met there and put under the care of the Emergency Medical Service according to Index on February 14, 2020.

"Out of the 36 migrants, five were hospitalized, while the rest, after receiving medical assistance, were transported to a reception center following further treatment in accordance with national and European legislation," the Dubrovnik police added.

Greece Reports 60,000 Migrant Arrivals in 2019, 4,100 Arrivals in 2020

Following more than 60,000 arrivals last year, more than 4,100 refugees and migrants have reached Greek shores so far in 2020.

Recently, the Croatian parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs and National Security unanimously decided to conduct direct oversight of Croatian police work following complaints about the police treatment of migrants, Committee Chairman Ranko Ostojić (SDP) told the press after the committee meeting on February 6, 2020.

An archive of Total Croatia News coverage on the migrant crisis in Croatia can be accessed here.