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Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that three people were
rescued and hospitalized with serious injuries, and that the
death toll could rise further. He said that for those killed,
“Death occurred on the spot.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed in a national
address that 14 people had died, including a 6-year-old girl and
a citizen of North Macedonia. Vucic said five of the victims
still had not been identified.
The train station has been renovated twice in recent years, and
critics of the authoritarian president attributed the disaster
to corruption and sloppy renovations on the part of his
administration. Members of the opposition planned to protest in
front of the station Saturday.
However, 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.
Ambulances and other emergency teams were dispatched to the
downtown station and bulldozers were removing the debris looking
for survivors. Some 80 rescuers were at the scene as heavy
machinery removed large parts of the rubble.
Surveillance camera footage showed people moving in and out of
the building and sitting on benches on a bright, sunny day
before the concrete canopy suddenly collapsed.
Serbia’s government declared Saturday a day of mourning.
Residents of Novi Sad were lighting candles across the street
from the railway station in an expression of grief for the lost
lives.
“This is a black Friday for us, for all of Serbia," Prime
Minister Milos Vucevic said.
Vucevic said the roof was built in 1964 and that an
investigation was underway to determine what happened and who is
responsible for the tragedy.
The renovated station was inaugurated by Vucic and his populist
ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, over two years ago
as a major stopover for a planned fast train line between
Belgrade and Budapest.
Serbia’s state railway company said the accident happened at
11:50 a.m. local time. The company said the structure above the
station entrance was not touched during the recent renovations.
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AP writers Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic contributed from
Belgrade.
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