Fourteen deaths after roof collapse in Novi Sad
09 November 2024
It’s midday on a Friday at the main train station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad. Many are travelling ahead of the weekend, on their way home or to visit friends in other cities. Suddenly, a loud thunder-like rumble shakes the station. “At first, I thought it was an earthquake,” a witness later recounts.
Quickly, the reality becomes clear: the station’s roof canopy has collapsed, burying those beneath it under several hundred tons of concrete. Fourteen people, including children, are dead on the spot. Three others have been critically injured and remain in a life-threatening condition. Reactions to the tragedy could not have been more varied.
Amid grief and anger, a central question preoccupies the public: how could such a catastrophic accident happen?
The Novi Sad station, built during the former Yugoslavia in 1964, was renovated over the past three years in cooperation with Chinese partners. The station has even been ceremonially reopened several times, though some construction work remains incomplete. In the immediate aftermath, the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, led by Aleksandar Vučić, moved to politicise the incident, with government-aligned media spinning the tragedy and manipulating facts, as well as downplaying the collapse, or dismissively pointing out that similar accidents occur in other countries. In a televised address, president Vučić stated that the responsibility lies with those overseeing infrastructure and transport, also noting that the canopy had not been included in the renovation.
Seventy-two hours after the tragedy, Goran Vesić, the minister of construction, transport, and infrastructure, offered his resignation due to public pressure, though he maintained that neither he nor his team bore any responsibility for the deaths of the fourteen people.
The public’s outrage, grief, and anger have not only been ignored but also met with accusations by the regime. The government has attempted to reshape the narrative, labelling those calling for accountability as agitators demanding “blood” and for “heads to roll.” Meanwhile, officials portray themselves as having no connection to the tragedy and defend themselves by any means necessary. In the following days, the grief of the people spilled into the streets of Novi Sad, culminating in some of the largest protests the city has seen in years.
 | Konstantin Hadži-Vuković In an increasingly dysfunctional state, where the ruling regime seems to care only about itself, people’s lives are, literally, devalued. Any criticism of president Vučić and his party is dismissed almost as national treason. This tragic incident follows two mass shootings in Serbia last year, which the state responded weakly to. Now, the public has once again taken to the streets in frustration. In Novi Sad, violent protests erupted, with people carrying banners reading “Murderers” and “Your hands are bloody”. Red paint was splashed across the city hall, symbolising blood and a tank of sewage was emptied outside the mayor’s office. The Serbian Progressive Party’s offices were also vandalised, with broken windows and defaced images of Vučić and prime minister Vučević labelled “Murderers”. In standard Serbian fashion, when it comes to protests, the police are not strangers to assaulting the protestors, or simply arresting them, even when they protest calmly. Let’s hope that this anger will not fade away, as it has often done before. |
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