Three Egyptian Men Drown in Sava River Near Zagreb, Croatian Police Say
Croatian police recovered the bodies of three Egyptian men from the Sava River at Rugvica, east of Zagreb, on 21 July. The youngest, aged 21, was swept away first and the other two went in after him. Egypt's embassy says the bodies will be repatriated once autopsies and legal procedures are complete.
24 July 2026
Updated 1 August 2026
Three Egyptian nationals drowned in the Sava River east of Zagreb after one of them got into difficulty and the other two went in after him, Croatian police said. Their bodies were recovered on Tuesday, 21 July, two days after the men went swimming.
The three, all with regulated residence status in Croatia, were last seen on Sunday afternoon, 19 July, in the Sava at Okunscak, in the municipality of Rugvica, Index.hr and public broadcaster HRT reported. A friend, also a foreign national, reported them missing at Zagreb police headquarters on the Monday.
Index.hr reported that the youngest, aged 21, entered the water first and was pulled under by the current, and that his companions, aged 46 and 31, went in to help before the river carried all three away. Egyptian Streets, citing Croatian media, reported that the men were two brothers and their cousin.
HRT reported that 16 firefighters and four boats searched alongside police, the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service and the Red Cross, covering roughly 35 kilometres of river; clothing and personal documents were found on the bank. The search was halted at nightfall and resumed the following morning, when the first two bodies were found and the third recovered shortly afterwards.
A rescue service spokesman quoted by HRT warned that rivers hide dangers beneath the surface and urged people to swim only at designated spots rather than overestimate their ability. Police said the circumstances would be established once the investigation and other procedures were complete.
The Egyptian embassy in Croatia said it was following the case closely with the Croatian government, Egypt Telegraph reported. The brother of one of the men is in Zagreb, autopsies are expected to establish the causes of death, and the bodies will be repatriated to Egypt once the legal and medical procedures conclude.
Egyptian Streets reported that Croatia issued more than 5,500 residence and work permits to Egyptian nationals in 2025, making Egyptians its ninth-largest group of foreign workers.