Serbia mourns: Railway station collapse claims 14 lives

On November 1st in Novi Sad, a part of the railway station wall collapsed. The collapse led to a total of 14 fatalities and several injuries. Initially, reports identified seven victims, with additional identities confirmed in the following hours. The rescue operation was halted on Friday night.

According to the Serbian Telegraph, the victims included two young girls, 9-year-old Valentina and 6-year-old Sara. Their grandfather, 53-year-old Dorde, was also among the deceased. The girls' aunt announced their passing and the date of their funeral, November 5th, in an obituary on social media. The girls' father shared with the Serbian Telegraph how he learned of his daughters' deaths.

My wife called me and said that the area where they were waiting for the bus had collapsed. I tried calling my father on his phone, but there was no answer. I also called my older daughter Valentina repeatedly, but she didn't respond. We rushed to Novi Sad, searching from one hospital to another, but we couldn’t find them. We only learned at 1:30 in the morning that they had died—you can imagine the uncertainty, described the man.

The authorities in Novi Sad announced three days of mourning in response to the tragedy. People have gathered at the station, lighting candles and laying flowers in remembrance. The station reopened this July after a major renovation completed by the Chinese consortium CRIC&CCCC. On Friday, Serbian State Railways stated that the collapsed part of the roof was not included in the recent reconstruction. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has expressed that he expects both criminal and political accountability for those responsible for the tragedy.