Friday, November 22, 2024

Fourteen killed in Serbia train station roof collapse

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At least three people were hospitalised with serious injuries after the incident in the town of Novi Sad.

Fourteen people have been killed after a concrete roof above the entrance of a railway station in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad collapsed.

At least three other people were rescued and hospitalised with serious injuries on Friday, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said. He did not expect the death toll to rise much further.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed the death toll in a televised address late on Friday. He said a 6-year-old girl and a citizen of North Macedonia were among those killed, and that five of the victims still had not been identified.

“It is difficult to say anything meaningful,” Vucic said in his address. “As the president of Serbia I demand that all those who are responsible for this are … punished.”

The collapse of a 35-metre (115 ft) length of roofing occurred at noon (11:00 GMT) on a sunny day in the city about 70km (40 miles) northwest of the capital, Belgrade. The dead were pulled from the rubble throughout the afternoon and into evening.

“Our windows were open as it was warm outside and I heard a huge rumble and saw a plume of dust, that’s all I saw. Later I heard what happened,” Vera, an 86-year-old pensioner who lives about 200m away from the scene, told the Reuters news agency.

Some 80 rescuers were at the scene, officials said. Ambulances and other emergency teams were dispatched to the downtown station and bulldozers removed debris looking for survivors.

Emergency services used two large diggers into the evening to help free two women who had been trapped under the rubble. They were in critical condition, said Vesna Turkulov, the head of the Vojvodina medical centre where the women were taken.

People and rescuers gather at the scene of an outdoor roof collapsed at a train station in Novi Sad, Serbia, Friday, November 1, 2024 [AP Photo]

‘This is a black Friday’

Surveillance camera footage of the incident showed people moving in and out of the building and sitting on benches before the concrete canopy suddenly collapsed on them.

The station, in Serbia’s second-largest city, reopened in July after three years of renovation work. Construction work was continuing in parts of the station.

In his address, President Vucic said the canopy had not been part of the recent renovations, and pledged to determine both the “political and criminal responsibility” for the collapse.

Serbia’s government declared November 2 a day of mourning. Prime Minister Milos Vucevic promised that authorities would investigate the cause of the accident.

“We will insist on finding those responsible, those who should have ensured the structure’s safety. My condolences to the families of the deceased,” said the prime minister.

“This is a black Friday for us, for all of Serbia, for Novi Sad,” Vucevic added.

Serbia Railways also said in a statement that the outdoor roof that collapsed had not been part of the renovations completed at the station.

“Serbia Railways regrets the accident that occurred, and the causes and any new details from the investigation will be promptly announced,” the company wrote in a social media post.

N1 news channel said that train departures were halted from the station about 70km (43 miles) northwest of the capital Belgrade on Friday.

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