Students in Novi Sad have released an emotional statement following a large commemorative gathering marking one year since the tragic collapse of the station canopy, which claimed 16 lives.
On their official Instagram page, the students wrote:
“Sixteen people lost their lives. Sixteen hearts stopped beating. Sixteen dreams, wishes, and hopes disappeared in a single moment. In front of a place that every day connects and separates people, where they come and go — in front of the railway station — sixteen people perished.
Some got up early that morning to catch a train. Someone was holding a cup of coffee. Someone was sending a message saying they were on their way home. Someone was thinking about an exam. It seemed like just another ordinary morning — until the sky fell to the ground. Sixteen people never made it home, to work, or to university. In one instant, their lives simply stopped.”
The message continued in somber reflection, as the students described the aftermath of the tragedy:
“Darkness fell. Silence. They disappeared beneath tons of concrete and dust. They left us — but their names must live forever in us. In every step we take, in every sentence we speak, in every silence we share. When we say sixteen, we don’t mean a number. We mean birthdays that will never come, windows that remain closed, beds that will forever be empty.”
Today marks one year since the collapse that took the lives of sixteen people, a day the students described as one when ‘thunderous silence echoes through Serbia’ — for those who “just wanted to reach somewhere that morning,” and for the families and voices silenced forever.
