14 victims of the tragedy in Novi Sad, the culprits are being sought
Fourteen dead and three seriously injured are the balance of the unprecedented tragedy in Novi Sad when the canopy at the Railway Station fell.
“The rescue operation in Novi Sad has ended. “The definitive balance of the accident is 14 dead and three injured,” said Dacic.
A 6-year-old child is among the victims, and the identity of all victims is still being determined.
The rescue operation lasted eight hours. Teams from Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kragujevac, Sremska Mitrovica participated in the rescue…
The collapse of the overhang happened after the railway station was reconstructed, and the authorities officially opened it on several occasions.
The Government of Serbia declared Saturday the Day of Mourning, and three days of mourning were declared in Novi Sad.
The president is demanding responsibility
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has announced that he will demand from the High Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State of Serbia that the persons responsible for the fall of the canopy at the Railway Station in Novi Sad be prosecuted and severely punished.
“As president, I am asking the High Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad and the Government of Serbia that the responsible persons be prosecuted, primarily criminally, but also politically. I will not allow those responsible to hide from responsibility under the auspices of the government. “How and why the canopy was not renovated, they will find out who is responsible,” he said.
The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, said that in the coming days, those responsible for the tragedy when the railway station was reconstructed will be determined.
The project was carried out by CIP, a contractor of a consortium of Chinese companies
The project for the reconstruction of the railway station in Novi Sad was carried out by the Transport Institute CIP, while the works were carried out by the consortium of Chinese companies CRIC-CCCC.
In the first phase, the building received a new steel canopy, and after the completion of the second phase, the ceiling surface was also reconstructed, made of the same “gilded” square tiles, some media reported on the reconstruction of the Novi Sad Railway Station in the summer of this year.
The Railway Infrastructure of Serbia announced that the reconstruction did not include the concrete canopy that fell. Since the commissioning of the Novi Sad Railway Station in 1964, there have been no significant reconstructions of that facility.
Consortium: Works strictly in accordance with the construction permit
The consortium of Chinese companies CRIC-CCCC, which carried out the works at the station, announced that the concrete canopy that collapsed was not the subject of works within the reconstruction.
“The canopy of the railway station in Novi Sad was an integral structural part of the station building and was built at the same time as the old station building of the railway station”, the CRIC-CCCC statement states, in which it “expresses its deep sorrow for the victims, as well as its deepest condolences to the families of the victims”.
The consortium of companies CRIC-CCCC points out that it carried out the works strictly in accordance with the construction permit.
Source: agencies, BIZLife, 021, RTS
Photo: Interior Ministry of Serbia/HO/AP
Source: bizlife.rs
