A rescue workforce inspects the world the place part of a roof of a railway station collapsed in Novi Unhappy, Serbia November 2, 2024.
| Picture Credit score: Reuters

Serbian rescuers stopped trying to find survivors on Saturday (November 2, 2024) after pulling out 14 our bodies from beneath tons of concrete from a fallen canopy at the entrance of a railway station within the northern metropolis of Novi Unhappy.

Serbia’s authorities declared Saturday (November 2) a day of mourning as officers promised an intensive investigation into Friday’s collapse of the roof that fell on individuals sitting beneath it.

“The useless included a six-year-old lady and a citizen of North Macedonia whereas three individuals have been severely injured,” Inside Minister Ivica Dacic mentioned.

Docs mentioned the injured ranged from 18 to 24 years previous and remained in life-threatening situation on Saturday.

The prepare station has been renovated twice lately, and critics of Serbia’s populist authorities attributed the catastrophe to corruption and sloppy renovations. Members of the opposition deliberate to protest in entrance of the station in a while Saturday.

Officers have insisted that the cover had not been a part of the renovation work. Goran Vesic, the federal government Minister for building and infrastructure, instructed the state RTS tv the tragedy wouldn’t have occurred had the cover been renovated as effectively.

Mr. Dacic mentioned some 20 individuals will likely be questioned on Saturday as a part of the investigation, together with Mr. Vesic.

Authorities deployed heavy equipment and a few 80 rescuers who struggled for hours to take away massive elements of concrete that crashed simply earlier than midday Friday. The rescue effort lasted till late Friday night.

Residents of Novi Unhappy lit candles and held a vigil for the victims on the website. Many responded to a name to donate blood.

”This morning I drank my espresso in tears. It’s exhausting this has occurred in our metropolis,” mentioned Dragica Camber, a resident of Novi Unhappy,

Surveillance digital camera footage on Friday confirmed individuals transferring out and in of the constructing and sitting on benches on a shiny, sunny day earlier than the concrete cover out of the blue collapsed. Home windows shook on close by buildings.

The railway station, together with the cover, was inbuilt 1964. Chinese language firms carried out the renovation work.

The renovated station was inaugurated by President Aleksandar Vucic and his populist ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, over two years in the past as a serious stopover for a deliberate quick prepare line between Belgrade and Budapest.