Rescuers end search for survivors after 14 die in canopy collapse in northern Serbia

A rescue team inspects the area where part of the ceiling of a railway station collapsed in Novi Sad, Serbia, on November 2, 2024. Photo courtesy: Reuters

Serbian rescue workers called off the search for survivors on Saturday (November 2, 2024) after pulling out 14 bodies from under a ton of concrete. Umbrella fell at the entrance of the railway station In the northern city of Novi Sad.

Serbia’s government declared Saturday (November 2) a day of mourning as authorities promised a thorough investigation into Friday’s collapse of the roof on people sitting beneath it.

“The dead included a six-year-old girl and a citizen of North Macedonia, while three people were seriously injured,” Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.

Doctors said the injured were aged between 18 and 24 and their condition on Saturday was life-threatening.

The railway station has been renovated twice in recent years, and critics of Serbia’s populist government have blamed corruption and careless renovation for the disaster. Opposition members planned to protest in front of the station later on Saturday.

Officials have insisted that the canopy was not part of the renovation work. Goran Vesic, the government’s minister of construction and infrastructure, told state RTS television that the tragedy would not have happened if the canopy had also been renovated.

Mr Decic said about 20 people, including Mr Vesic, would be questioned on Saturday as part of the investigation.

Authorities deployed heavy machinery and about 80 rescue workers who struggled for hours to remove large chunks of concrete that crashed just before noon Friday. The rescue work continued till late Friday evening.

Residents of Novi Sad lit candles and paid tribute to the victims at the scene. Many people responded to the call to donate blood.

“I drank my coffee with tears this morning. It’s hard that this happened in our city,” said Dragica Kember, a resident of Novi Sad.

Surveillance camera footage on Friday showed people going in and out of the building and sitting on benches on a bright sunny day, before the concrete canopy suddenly collapsed. Windows of nearby buildings shook.

The railway station, including the canopy, was constructed in 1964. Chinese companies carried out the renovation work.

The renovated station was inaugurated by President Alexander Vucic and his populist ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, two years ago as a major stop for a planned fast train line between Belgrade and Budapest.