A rescue group inspects the world the place a part of the roof of a practice station collapsed in Novi Unhappy, Serbia, on November 2, 2024. | Picture credit score: Reuters
Serbian rescuers stopped looking for survivors on Saturday (Nov 2, 2024) after pulling 14 our bodies from below tons of concrete from a fallen cover on the entrance to a practice station within the northern metropolis of Novi Unhappy.
Serbia’s authorities declared Saturday (Nov. 2) a day of mourning as officers promised a radical investigation into Friday’s ceiling collapse that fell on individuals sitting beneath it.
“Among the many lifeless have been a six-year-old lady and a citizen of North Macedonia, whereas three individuals have been significantly injured,” Inside Minister Ivica Dacic stated.
Docs stated the injured have been between 18 and 24 years outdated and remained in life-threatening situation Saturday.
The practice station has been renovated twice in recent times and critics of Serbia’s populist authorities blamed the catastrophe on corruption and sloppy renovations. Opposition members deliberate to protest outdoors the station afterward Saturday.
Authorities have insisted that the marquee was not a part of the renovation work. Goran Vesic, the federal government’s development and infrastructure minister, instructed state tv RTS that the tragedy wouldn’t have occurred if the cover had additionally been renovated.
Dacic stated about 20 individuals might be questioned Saturday as a part of the investigation, together with Vesic.
Authorities deployed heavy equipment and about 80 rescuers who fought for hours to take away giant chunks of concrete that collapsed shortly earlier than midday on Friday. The rescue efforts lasted till late Friday night time.
Novi Unhappy residents lit candles and held a vigil for the victims on the scene. Many responded to a name to donate blood.
”This morning I drank my espresso crying. It’s arduous that this occurred in our metropolis,” stated Dragica Camber, a resident of Novi Unhappy.
Surveillance digicam footage from Friday confirmed individuals getting into and exiting the constructing and sitting on benches on a brilliant, sunny day earlier than the concrete cover abruptly collapsed. The home windows of close by buildings shook.
The practice station, together with the cover, was inbuilt 1964. The renovation works have been carried out by Chinese language firms.
The renovated station was inaugurated by President Aleksandar Vucic and his populist ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, greater than two years in the past as a significant cease for a deliberate quick practice line between Belgrade and Budapest.
Revealed – Nov 02, 2024 04:56 pm IST
