Among those arrested was the former Minister of Construction of Serbia.
Goran Vesic resigned days after the canopy collapsed at the newly renovated station. But he denied his guilt.
“I cannot accept responsibility for the death,” he said as he announced his resignation, “because I and the people who work with me do not bear an ounce of responsibility for the tragedy that occurred.”
It seems the prosecution may take a different view. They say, “criminal acts against public safety” are being investigated.
Vesic, however, sought to pass himself off as a cooperating witness rather than a suspected criminal.
“I voluntarily responded to the call of the police officers with whom I came to Novi Sad and became available to the investigative authorities,” he wrote on social networks.
The arrests followed a televised address on Tuesday in which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic warned of consequences for those responsible for the disaster.
“15 people died through no fault of their own, but because someone did not do their job,” he said.
President Vučić’s problem is that he has tied himself very closely to the Novi Sad train station. It is a key stop in the government’s major infrastructure project, the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed line.
Vucic inaugurated the station in 2022 together with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
“This is our path to modern Europe – our path to a better, progressive Serbia,” he told the BBC at the time.
