The canopy of the Railway Station in Novi Sad collapsed after the reconstruction of the station building in the period from 2023 to 2024 and the ceremonial opening on July 5 of this year. Fourteen people lost their lives - including children - and three were seriously injured and in danger.
The victims were identified in the first 24 hours after the accident, their names were known to the media, and the Blood Transfusion Institute appealed to citizens to come out and donate blood. The opposition invited the citizens to a protest rally, and the Prime Minister of Serbia, Miloš Vučević, stated at the scene of the accident that "this is Black Friday for Novi Sad and all of Serbia."
In a televised address, President Aleksandar Vučić said that those in charge of infrastructure and traffic are responsible and emphasized that only the canopy was not restored during the reconstruction. In the first 72 hours after the accident, no one resigned.
photo: nenad mihajlović / tanjugTRAGEDY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES: Glass on a collapsed canopy in 2024;…
November 2 was declared a day of mourning in Serbia, and three days of mourning were declared in Novi Sad. In the media, alongside politicians and analysts, architects and builders are guests, while on social networks, citizens publish photos from the reconstruction, whose investor is the "Railway Infrastructure of Serbia".
By the way, the consortium of Chinese companies CRIC-CCCC, which carried out works at the Railway Station in Novi Sad, announced that the concrete canopy that collapsed was not the subject of works within the reconstruction. The supervision work was carried out by the Hungarian company "Utiber". The president of the Society of Architects of Novi Sad, Ana Ferik Ivanovič, tells "Vreme" that during the reconstruction it is good to start from the original project, which in this case is from the 1960s, when other regulations were in force, and that, until the previous situation is determined, they cannot to know how the canopy itself is attached to the station building.
"None of us have seen the project documentation, nor has anyone asked us to give an opinion on it," she says and adds that in the world of architecture, things like this are considered an accident in case there was a stronger impact of natural disasters. He emphasizes that the railway station building with all its previous elements stood safe and stable for 60 years, survived bombings, earthquakes, was compact as a single element and thus made a stable object.
"Here, we really don't know if someone decided to put an additional load on that canopy and if someone decided that the anchors that held the cables and gave way in one second should not be re-checked," says Ferik Ivanovic.
Geological engineer Zoran Đajić (supervisor and consultant on the railway station reconstruction project until March 2023) told N1 that work was being done on the canopy and that he sent letters to numerous addresses that the facade panels must be removed in order to see what was behind them and whether it failed.
ONE RESIGNATION, FOURTEEN LIVES
"You cannot cheat and steal on every meter of every building and expect that there will be no consequences. In the end, corruption leads to people suffering", stated the co-president of the Green-Left Front, Radomir Lazović. With these words, he explained the action "Your hands are bloody". Specifically, ZLF members and activists left red handprints in front of the entrance to the Government of Serbia at Nemanjina 11.
Finally, more than seventy-two hours after the tragedy, the Minister of Construction and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, informed the public that he was resigning, but that he and his team did not feel responsible. It seemed as if he was about to cry when he claimed that he and his team were not responsible and that he was resigning as a man who would forever empathize with the pain of the families of the victims. He emphasized that he will be involved in politics as long as President Vučić is involved in it.
Lazović supported the resignation of Goran Vesić because, as he says, he is one of the most responsible for slander in the construction industry, secret contracts with investors and savage construction that leaves behind human victims. However, he emphasizes, one must also insist on the political responsibility of Vučević and Vučić.
"One personnel change in the Government of Serbia will not solve the systemic problems in our country - corruption, secret contracts with foreign companies and the complete collapse of all institutions," concludes Lazović.
photo: historical archive of the city...construction of the railway station in Novi Sad in 1963;...
MEDIA IMAGE I (NE)OPPORTUNITY
About the difference in reporting by professional and regime media, Jelena Kleut, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, told "Vreme" that, while some stayed away both physically and symbolically, others had a visibly privileged approach and stuck to the "explanation ” offered by officials.
"One part of the media was in a hurry to publish the names of the victims and their personal stories as soon as possible. The second part showed responsibility towards the scale of the tragedy, the victims and their families and was not in a hurry to publish information", says Kleut.
The regime's media did everything to present this tragedy as a consequence of force majeure, points out the former president of the Executive Council and the Government of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtić, and adds that they did everything to buy time and prevent a drop in the government's rating.
"Vučić's address to the media was a classic attempt at damage control and shirking responsibility for the system of institutional corruption he installed, which caused the tragedy. Due to the death of 14 people, the Government must fall," concludes Pajtić.
Kleut points out that already in the prime minister's first address, the information that it was a canopy from 1964 was emphasized.
"Throughout that Friday, the words 'old canopy' resounded in the addresses of officials, and were picked up by the media that live off the support of the regime. Then the ping-pong of responsibilities begins, followed by the removal of documentation and the rewriting of texts. In the end, everything culminates in extremely tasteless ratings and bids on tabloid television," says Kleut.
Our interlocutor explains that on the first day, viewers of national television received an interpretive framework that the renovation did not include the part of the building that collapsed, on the second day they were assured that the institutions are working hard to determine responsibility, and on the third day all the focus was shifted to the opposition, which falls into the greatest evil of all.
"The pace at which these spins are escalating shows that at least some of these citizens are not yet convinced," says Kleut.
photo: Magdalena Cvetkovic...protests and lighting candles for the victims
WHEN TOMORROW DAWNS
"The people of Novi Sad see this as a crime, whether it was due to negligence or not. The task of the state, public officials and state services is to ensure elementary security in public facilities, which has not been done, and it is obvious that several persons are guilty of this crime", says the provincial deputy from the Movement of Free Citizens of Novi Sad, Radivoje Jovović.
He notes that the people of Novi Sad expect not only resignations and political responsibility, but also the immediate arrest and prosecution of those responsible, and that the atmosphere is such that, morally justified, many now want to take justice into their own hands.
"Injustice has really become the law here, and injustice is always followed by mockery of the victims and their families through spin, cover-ups and open lies of the government representatives", says Jovović and emphasizes that, when it comes to demonstrations and civil disobedience, "this time there must be many stronger, because people don't want to go for walks anymore. Novi Sad is no longer walking around, Novi Sad wants to fight, and the opposition and those who represent an alternative vision of governing this country have a place in the front ranks."
In the air, continues Jovović, you can feel the smell of tar and feathers. He attributes the responsibility for that to the authorities, which for a decade or more persisted in corrupt and criminal deals, unprofessional and irresponsible personnel, arrogantly imposing their own interest before the public, in literally every case.
"You can't even build a new public toilet without installing one of theirs, and the quality of the work always suffers." The people of Novi Sad can no longer tolerate this, they want radical changes", says Jovović.
Dane Pribić from the Center for the Development of a Democratic Society "Europolis" says that the fish stinks from the head.
"There is no project in Serbia, especially of this size, that was not approved by the Vučić brothers," this interlocutor claims. "The search for responsibility should start with them and their collaborators from the Government, and then continue with those who agreed to implement this project from hell."
Pribić points out that the opposition and local activists are putting pressure, reminding and alarming in every possible way so that this tragedy as an epilogue gets responsibility, unlike other cases from the progressive era (see text on page 18). It is important not to give up on politics because, as he says, that station in Novi Sad and the bench in front of the building are equally important as electricity.
"I am afraid that part of the citizens will continue to fall for lies, substitution of theses, fiction from the SNS kitchen. However, this time in a slightly smaller percentage, because the canopies are at every step and around every corner and in every street", concludes Pribić.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW??
According to Insider's research, published a few days after the accident, the state-owned company "Infrastruktur železnice Srbije", which according to the contract is the investor and client of the work, did not submit a request for the issuance of a use permit for the building of the Railway Station in Novi Sad.
"In order to determine the safety of the building", says Ferik Ivanovic for "Vreme", "first of all, the project documentation must be done, in accordance with everything that was found on the ground, in accordance with the condition of the materials that we are now changing or additionally we overload or in any way affect them, are they still solid, do they still do their role as holders and keep the whole structure stable... This applies to all buildings before they receive a use permit, and a use permit is obtained in order to check all the factors that will tell us whether we can let people into that facility and whether we can put it into operation before use itself. These are the steps that are an integral part of the process, from the design of the facility to its use, and require a large number of participants and controls, and, among other things, there are also technical receptions before the actual use of the facility. Everyone for their part of the project documentation - architects, construction engineers, other participants - everyone must check whether the contractor did exactly as it says in the project, whether all the recommendations and obligations that the investor had to fulfill were respected, whether did he use quality and correct materials, did he respect the deadlines regarding the materials and their technological processes so that the concrete would harden, so that everything would be bound into one compact mass that should stand there for several decades. All these steps should give assurance that a job is done well. When there is more control, tragedy can be prevented in advance. In this case, all this was done very quickly, under some veil of secrecy, and even if we wanted to, we would not have found the documentation."
In this context, Ferik Ivanovič draws attention to the fact that the Railway Station in Novi Sad is one of the most important public facilities in the city, a facility through which several thousand people circulate daily.
During the Day of Mourning and the attempt to demolish the Sava Bridge, the Belgrade Secretariat for Traffic pointed out that the bridge is not safe and that citizens use it at their own risk.
"In general, engineers must bear the responsibility. They must not give in under pressure and allow themselves to be influenced by lay solutions and suggestions, and most often the motive is to save something, make a profit somewhere and get somewhere much faster", concludes Ferik Ivanovic.
What is still waiting, whose resignation is yet to come, and will this solve another of the unresolved problems in a series? How will the families of the victims move on? How will the people of Novi Sad, and even the whole nation, swallow another tragedy? How long will he swallow? How long will citizens be protected from "canopies"?
A station tailored to man
The first railway station in Novi Sad was located on Liman, after which a new one was built, officially opened on May 31, 1964, and completed in a record time, in 18 months. The station building was a work of modern architecture that was included in the General Urban Plan in the mid-XNUMXs. The chief engineer was Imre Farkaš and his associates. Many constructors, architects and other experts participated in the construction work.
Functionality and aesthetics were the priorities of the building, as well as making it "tailored" for each person. The building was reconstructed for the first time in 2022, when Novi Sad was declared the European Capital of Culture. In March of the same year, the "Soko" train was launched, which travels between Belgrade and Novi Sad for about half an hour. The reconstruction of the Railway Station was carried out in the period from 2023 to 2024, when it was reopened.
Caution - it's new
In Belgrade, nightclubs "respected" the Day of Mourning by starting parties fifteen minutes after midnight. In front of the railway station in Novi Sad, there are more and more flowers for the victims, and those arriving at the new Belgrade bus station avoided standing under any canopy, regardless of the fact that the station was opened a month ago.
