BELGRADE (Reuters) – At least eleven people were killed and three hospitalized after the roof of a railway station collapsed in the Serbian city of Novi Sad on Friday, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told Serbian television.
The 80 rescuers mobilized, who used clearing equipment sent to the site, managed in the evening to extract two women who had been trapped under the rubble. In critical condition, they were hospitalized.
The Minister of the Interior, present on site, had mentioned earlier in the day a rescue operation lasting “several hours”. He clarified on television that the toll could rise.
“It’s a black Friday for all of Serbia and for Novi Sad,” Prime Minister Milos Vucevic told reporters. “Regardless of the fact that this building was built in 1964, we will insist that those responsible for this tragedy be identified,” he added.
According to news channel N1, the restoration of the station was completed this summer, but did not include the part of the roof that collapsed.
Train traffic is interrupted at the station located around 70 kilometers northwest of the capital Belgrade.
(Written by Ivana Sekularac; French version Etienne Breban; edited by Tangi Salaün)
