Daily Times

Thousands of citizens gathered for a night vigil Saturday in northern Serbia to mourn the 14 people killed when the roof of a train station collapsed.

The incident happened early on Friday at the main train station in the northern city of Novi Sad. At the makeshift memorial on the boulevard near the station residents silently lit candles and laid flowers while some held white papers with the names of the victims. Vigils were also held in towns across Serbia as residents expressed their anger and disbelief, demanding accountability for the tragedy.

“I am very sad and I am very sorry… I do not want to think about whose fault it was and who was responsible, for now, I think we have to grieve first,” student Anja Gvozdenovic, 23, told AFP. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Saturday that “determining responsibility started today”.

Dacic told TV Prva that the prosecutor’s office would be questioning 20 people, “starting from the top, people from the ministries, the public company (Serbia) Railways”. He said that police were seizing documents related to the railway station from the Ministry of construction, transport and infrastructure. The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad said in a statement that it had ordered among others the “minister for construction, transport and infrastructure to be questioned”. The central railway station in Novi Sad underwent three years of renovation that was completed in July.

Serbia Railways said in a statement that the collapsed roof had not been part of the renovations. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expressed his condolences and support for the victims’ relatives and vowed to take action. “Those responsible, I assure you, will be punished,” the president said on Friday. Three people who were injured in the incident remain in a serious condition, the University Clinic Center of Vojvodina said. Several heads of states have sent condolences, among them those of Croatia, Russia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Greece.

“I ask you to convey my heartfelt sympathy and support to the families and loved ones of the victims”, Russian president Vladimir Putin wrote to his Serbian counterpart Vucic. Serbia said Saturday would be a day of mourning for the victims, while the city of Novi Sad and the surrounding region of Vojvodina were to hold three days of mourning.