Eight people are dead after the outdoor roof of a railway station collapsed in the Serbian town of Novi Sad on Friday, Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said.
In a statement released by the Serbian government, Dačić said two people were injured and hospitalized, one of whom was in “very serious condition.” Dačić added that authorities are in contact with two people trapped under the rubble as they conduct a “very difficult” rescue operation.
Videos circulating on social media showed damage to the structure and paramedics at the scene.
Serbian TV station N1, citing Dačić, reported that a young girl was pulled from the rubble after a four-hour rescue operation. Novi Sad Mayor Milan Đurić said that more than 30 people were injured, N1 reported. Đurić said in statement posted to the Novi Sad government website that he arrived at the scene “as soon as he received news about the collapse.”
Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević — a former mayor of Novi Sad — paid tribute to emergency workers fighting a “superhuman battle” on what he called “Black Friday” and “one of the hardest days in the postwar history of Novi Sad.”
Local politician and fellow former mayor Borislav Novaković urged residents to donate blood in the aftermath of the tragedy. He also said that authorities must take responsibility for the incident.
Located in the north of the country on the banks of the Danube, Novi Sad is Serbia’s second-biggest city and an ethnically diverse cultural hub.
