Mali Lošinj (Croatia) - A rescue helicopter actually took off from Rijeka, Croatia, on April 22 to pick up an injured child. However, the helicopter turned back on site and left the child behind.

As the Croatian newspaper Fiuaman reports, a projection screen in the hotel fell on a child last Tuesday at around 9.40 pm, injuring him. Emergency services were quickly on the scene to attend to the child.

As a possible spinal injury could not be ruled out, a rescue helicopter was called to transport the child to hospital.

However, when the helicopter finally arrived, the doctor on the helicopter team decided not to take the child to hospital by helicopter.

Instead, the child was eventually taken to hospital by land.

The ambulance set off on the approximately 130-kilometer journey and even had to request an emergency ferry, as the last one had already left at around 10.30 pm.

It was not until around 1.45 a.m. on the morning of April 23 that the injured child finally arrived at the hospital for further treatment.

The emergency vehicle did not return to the island until 3 a.m., meaning that the residents of Lošinj had no rescue vehicle at their disposal during this time.

The poorly organized rescue system caused a huge outcry among the inhabitants. As a result, the Croatian Institute of Emergency Medicine launched an investigation to clarify the exact circumstances of the operation.

However, the director of the emergency service emphasized that after a medical assessment by the helicopter team, it was decided that the patient did not need to be airlifted. It was also stated that the transportation time had no impact on the child's treatment.