NOVI SAD, Serbia (AP) — Masses of folks lit candles and left flora and toys on Saturday to commemorate 14 individuals who have been killed when a concrete cover crashed on the front of a railway station within the northern Serbian town of Novi Unhappy. Conserving indicators with names of the sufferers – the youngest of whom used to be a 6-year-old lady – citizens of Novi Unhappy stood quietly in grief around the boulevard from the station construction the place the roof fell on folks on Friday. Many have been quietly crying and those that got here mentioned they have been not able to understand how the sort of tragedy used to be conceivable and demanded solutions from the government. 3 folks have been additionally injured and remained in a life-threatening situation on Saturday.“My first feeling used to be anger as a result of we permit amateurs to run this nation,” mentioned Natasa Beljic. “And since I’m conscious about the truth that no person might be held responsible and that accountability will fall on totally inappropriate folks.”
The lengthy, concrete cover collapsed abruptly round midday on Friday as folks have been sitting on benches or coming out and in. Surveillance digital camera pictures on Friday confirmed the cover crashing down in seconds.
Serbia’s executive declared Saturday an afternoon of mourning, as officers promised a radical investigation into Friday’s cave in. Prosecutors mentioned they’re wondering the entire folks concerned, together with executive ministers. The teach station has been renovated two times lately, and critics of Serbia’s populist executive attributed the crisis to corruption and sloppy renovations. Opposition baby-kisser Marinika Tepic mentioned on Saturday, “this isn’t an coincidence, that is homicide!”
Within the Serbian capital of Belgrade, liberal opposition Inexperienced-Left Entrance threw pink paint outdoor the Serbian executive headquarters, to ship a message that “your fingers are bloody.”Officers have insisted that the cover had now not been a part of the renovation paintings. Goran Vesic, the federal government minister for building and infrastructure, informed the state RTS tv the tragedy should not have came about had the cover been renovated as neatly.
Government deployed heavy equipment and a few 80 rescuers who struggled for hours to take away massive portions of concrete. The rescue effort lasted till overdue Friday night with bulldozers rummaging via lots of rubble outdoor the construction. Mira Stankovic, a Novi Unhappy resident who additionally got here to the vigil mentioned she now feels unsafe: “I believe horrible, I believe frightened, I’ve some worry within me.” She mentioned she not trusts the railways, tunnels or bridges. The railway station, together with the cover, used to be inbuilt 1964. The renovation paintings used to be performed by way of Chinese language firms. The renovated station used to be inaugurated by way of President Aleksandar Vucic and his populist best friend, Hungarian Top Minister Viktor Orbán, over two years in the past as a big stopover for a deliberate speedy teach line between Belgrade and Budapest.
