But some 200 firefighters dispatched late Wednesday to the blaze along a railway connecting the towns of Hreljin and Meja managed to bring it under control, firefighters in Hreljin told AFP.

Meanwhile, firefighters have yet to completely stamp out a forest fire that has ravaged the countryside near the main Adriatic Sea resort of Dubrovnik for almost a week.

The fire destroyed more than 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of brush and wooded hillside, but it did not cause casualties and Dubrovnik, which is classified as a UN World Heritage Site, was not threatened.

Croatian Interior Minister Sime Lucin said Thursday that most of 359 fires which broke out in the country since the beginning of July were caused by arson.

So far two suspects have been detained in connection with fires, Lucin said quoted by the HINA news agency.

Authorities have said they were now concerned that the country's worst drought in 50 years could threaten the tourism industry as some resorts faced the prospect of water shortages during the peak of the season in August.

The almost three-month-long drought has hit notably notably grain, corn crops, vineyards as well as orchard and olive groves.

If the drought, accompanied with unusually high temperatures, continues it could cause water shortages in some tourist resorts, notably those located in the northern Istria peninsula, the northern island of Krk and the central island of Pag, experts warned.

Two of Croatia's 21 counties have been proclaimed drought-stricken disaster areas: the southern Dubrovnik-Neretva and the central Lika-Senj.

TERRA.WIRE