• Thursday, 19 December 2024

Silent protest in Serbia over station collapse that killed 14 people

Silent protest in Serbia over station collapse that killed 14 people

Novi Sad, 15 November 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Residents of the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad have commemorated the 14 people who died when a portion of the main railway station's roof collapsed two weeks ago.

At 11:52 am on Friday, the time of the accident on November 1, people took to the streets and stood silently for 14 minutes.

Drivers stopped and left their vehicles, bringing traffic to a halt.

A citizens' committee had called for the city was to stand in silence for one minute for each of the dead, which included two children.

The collapse of an outside roof structure buried dozens of people. Three of those injured in the incident are still in critical condition.

There is widespread outrage not only in Novi Sad, but throughout Serbia, over the fact that the authorities have still not provided a coherent explanation for the disaster, and there have been no arrests. 

The train station building, which dates from 1964, had been extensively renovated in recent years. However, the canopy that fell down was not included in the renovation – and so far there has been no explanation for this either.