Bioce train disaster
Encyclopedia
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
crash on January 23, 2006 in Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. At least 45 people, including five children, were killed and another 184 injured. It was the worst train disaster in Montenegrin history.
It occurred shortly after 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) about 10 km north of the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica
Podgorica
Podgorica , is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement...
on the Belgrade-Bar railway, renowned as one of the most scenic lines in Europe. A local train carrying around 300 people from Bijelo Polje
Bijelo Polje
Bijelo Polje is a town in northern Montenegro. It has a population of 15,883 .Bijelo Polje is the center of municipality . It is unofficial center of north-eastern region of Montenegro...
in the north of Montenegro to the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
port of Bar
Bar, Montenegro
Bar is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has a population of 17,727...
derailed above a 100 m-deep ravine above the Morača
Morača
Morača is a river in Montenegro. It originates in northern Montenegro, under Rzača mountain. It generally flows southwards for some , before emptying into Lake Skadar....
river, into which it fell. Many of the casualties were said to be children returning from a skiing holiday in the north.
According to the Montenegrin Interior Minister, Jusuf Kalamperović, the accident was caused by a failure in the braking system. Minister of Transport Andrija Lompar
Andrija Lompar
Andrija Lompar is a Montenegrin politician and the current Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications in the Government of Montenegro...
and Director of Montenegro Railways Ranko Medenica immediately resigned over the accident, and train driver Slobodan Drobnjak was arrested on suspicion of negligence.
Official inquest
As soon as he arrived at Podgorica hospital on the night of the disaster, Drobnjak was questioned by the investigative judge Zoran Radović of the Podgorica Elementary Court.The day after the accident, before the detailed investigation had started and contrary to eye-witness reports that the braking system was faulty, Montenegro Railways executive Momčilo Rakočević suggested that human error was the reason for disaster, blaming Drobnjak explicitly: "According to preliminary, partially incomplete data, it could be said that the accident probably happened because the train operator and the accompanying staff did not follow the operating procedure which should have prevented the train from self-starting down the incline".
Judge Radović said on January 25, 2006 that the "most probable cause of the accident is the failure of braking system". He elaborated, "700 meters before the accident there was no problem with the brakes, the train stopped the way it should. All the facts so far point to the brake failure and further investigation will determine why and how".
That evening he interrogated Drobnjak for three hours in the presence of state prosecutor Veselin Vučković. After the interrogation in a hospital where Drobnjak was awaiting surgery for the shattered hip he suffered in the disaster, judge Radović detained him for one month as the investigation continued.
By January 26, 2006, three days after the accident, there was quite a lot of confusion, with opposing statements. Judge Radović said the investigation could last as long as six months. He also warned Montenegro Railways management to stop making statements that prejudicate the outcome of the investigation. Speaking to the Podgorica daily Pobjeda
Pobjeda
Pobjeda is a Montenegrin newspaper. Having been published for 66 years, it is the oldest Montenegrin newspaper still in circulation. It is the oldest Montenegrin active media, too....
, he said that the primary goal of his investigation was to determine whether Drobnjak was responsible, but that it would also included wider aspects of railway safety.
On January 27, 2006, Vučković requested that the judge open the investigation against Drobnjak for the "grave endangerment of traffic safety with deadly consequence".
Drobnjak's lawyers, Dragana Vujović and Goran Rodić, appealed against his one-month detention on January 28, 2006: "He was assigned detention on the grounds that he might flee and/or influence witnesses. It is completely ridiculous for the possibility of escape to be declared as grounds for detention in this case. He was operated on yesterday, and long rehabilitation awaits him. And as far as possibility of influencing witnesses goes, he has already been questioned twice in great detail."
Trial
On July 23, 2006, base prosecutor's office in Podgorica indicted 12 employees of Montenegrin Railways.In November 2007 the courts sentenced Slobodan Drobnjak to 6 years of imprisonment and freed all 11 other charged personnel from the Railways (among them: executive director Rešad Nuhodžić, executive director of transport Momčilo Rakočević, deputy executive director for traffic affairs Vojo Andrijašević, etc.).
Public reaction
Asked in the wake of Lompar's and Medenica's resignations if the government should resign, deputy Prime Minister Miroslav IvaniševićMiroslav Ivanišević
Miroslav Ivanišević is a Montenegrin politician. He was appointed as the Montenegrin Minister of Finance in 1998.In 2007 he was accused of being involved in cigarette smuggling into Italy, but was found not guilty in 2010.-External links:*...
responded that train accidents occur even in much more developed countries with better infrastructure, adding that the government invested a lot in developing its railway infrastructure.
By Friday January 27, 2006 there were strong reactions to what many perceived to be unjust public singling-out of Drobnjak. The non-governmental organization Group for Changes offered free legal counsel to him and accused Railways of Montenegro
Railways of Montenegro
Rail transport in Montenegro is operated by three separate companies, which independently handle railway infrastructure, passenger transport and cargo transport.Montenegro is a member of the International Union of Railways...
of engaging in a public smear campaign with the aim of washing their hands of responsibility by sacrificing an employee.
Even more outrage ensued when a near-accident was reported barely three days after the tragedy. On January 26, 2006 morning train 6151 from Podgorica arrived at Bar with a cracked wheel on the locomotive.
The verdict was met with public outrage as after the trial in front of the court there were people yelling and old women, cousins of the killed, crying. The event has just been characterized as another state affair of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro
Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro
The Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro is the ruling social-democratic political party in Montenegro....
.
Casualties
The following is a list of the 43 identified casualties confirmed to have died.- Mirko Petričević (born July 25, 1954) from PodgoricaPodgoricaPodgorica , is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement...
- Enisa Šabotić (born August 28, 1985) from Podgorica
- Damir Tuzović (born September 29, 2001) from Podgorica
- Dejan Čabarkapa (born December 26, 1998) from Podgorica
- Snežana Čabarkapa (born ?, ?) from Podgorica
- Milosav Žugić (born November 19, 1992) from Bar
- Sandra Mitrović (born May 29, 1976) from DanilovgradDanilovgradDanilovgrad is a town in central Montenegro. It has a population of 5,208 . It is situated in the Danilovgrad Municipality which lies along the main route between Montenegro's two largest cities, Podgorica and Nikšić.The town of Danilovgrad is located in the fertile valley of the Zeta River,...
- Cmiljana Furundžić (born August 15, 1926) from Bijelo PoljeBijelo PoljeBijelo Polje is a town in northern Montenegro. It has a population of 15,883 .Bijelo Polje is the center of municipality . It is unofficial center of north-eastern region of Montenegro...
- Dragoje Femić (born January 18, 1969) from Bijelo Polje
- Leka Bubanja (born January 19, 1961) from BeraneBeraneBerane , formerly Ivangrad, is a town in north-eastern Montenegro. It has a population of 11,776 .Berane is the centre of municipality and one of the centres of Polimlje area, named after the Lim River, on which Berane is situated.-History:During the medieval period the Montenegrin land of Berane...
- Selmo Kuč (born September 26, 1996) from Bar
- Ajsela Kuč (born May 5, 1975) from Bar
- Lako Milićević (born October 22, 1956) from Bijelo Polje
- Nikola Vojinović (born February 14, 1985) from Bijelo Polje
- Neđeljko Kojović (born June 1, 1961) from Podgorica
- Đorđije Boričić (born April 4, 1954) from Podgorica
- Sofija Šoć (born October 30, 1943) from Podgorica
- Rajna Bulatović (born February 18, 1936) from Bijelo Polje
- Esad Hadžibegović (born July 22, 1956) from Podgorica
- Dušan Šunjarević (born 1925) from UlcinjUlcinjUlcinj is a coastal resort town and municipality in Montenegro. The town of Ulcinj has a population of 10,828 of which the majority are Albanians...
- Vojislavka Baltić (born 1945) from Mojkovac
- Milić Delić (born 1949) from Podgorica
- Mara Radović (born 1947) from Bijelo Polje
- Novka Bubanja (born 1949) from Podgorica
- Slavica Grabovica (born 1961) from CetinjeCetinjeCetinje , Цетиње / Cetinje , Italian: Cettigne, Greek: Κετίγνη, Ketígni) is a town and Old Royal Capital of Montenegro. It is also a historical and the secondary capital of Montenegro , with the official residence of the President of Montenegro...
- Svetlana Ivanović (born 1961) from Mojkovac
- Anela Topuzović (born 1999) from Podgorica
- Naida Halilović (born 1985) from Bijelo Polje
- Bojana Popović (born ?) from Bijelo Polje
- Dragan Nikotić (born 1965) from Bar
- Maho Trubljanin (born 1943) from Bijelo Polje
- Stanica Stijović (born 1950) from Podgorica
- Žarko Stijović (born 1945) from Podgorica
- Branka Bojović (born 1945) from Podgorica
- Slavka Šćepanović (born 1945) from Kološine
- Lidija Bulatović (born 1982) from Podgorica
- Dostana Bajić (born 1934) from Berane
- Danica Čelebić (born 1953) from Podgorica
- Petar Knežević (born 1946) from Podgorica
- Dragan Radović (born 1956) from Bijelo Polje
- Ruva Višnjić (born 1952) from Bijelo Polje
- Fatma Agović (born 1957) from NikšićNikšićNikšić is a city in Montenegro . In 2003 the city had a total population about 75,000.Nikšić is located in Nikšić plain, at the foot of Mount Trebjesa. It is the center of the municipality , which is the largest in Montenegro by area...
- Bojana Vukićević (born 1975) from Bijelo Polje
Sources
- "Dozens dead in Balkan train crash", BBC News Online, January 23, 2006
- "Thirty-nine dead in Montenegro train derailment", Reuters, January 23, 2006
- "Serbia-Montenegro Train Crash Kills 39", Associated Press, January 23, 2006
- "39 Dead in Montenegro Train Crash", CNN, January 23, 2006
- "CG: Najmanje 41 poginuo i 5 dece", B92, January 23, 2006
- "Nesreća se morala dogoditi", Blic, January 27, 2006