Bioče train disaster

Infobox rail accident


caption = Rescue workers at the site of the disaster
title = Bioče train disaster
date = January 23, 2006 (16:00 local time)
location = near Bioče, Montenegro
line = Bijelo Polje - Bar
cause = Derailment due to excessive speed
trains =
pax =
deaths = 45
injuries = 184

The Bioče train disaster was a train crash on January 23, 2006 in Montenegro. 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 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 in the north of Montenegro to the Adriatic Sea port of Bar derailed above a 100 m-deep ravine above the Morača 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 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. [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?dd=24&mm=1&yyyy=2006 B92 - Vesti - 43 žrtve udesa voza, troje kritično ] 2006-01-24]

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". [ [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?dd=25&mm=1&yyyy=2006 B92 - Vesti - 44 poginula u železničkoj nesreći ] 2006-01-25]

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. [ [http://www.blic.co.yu/arhiva/2006-01-27/strane/tema.htm] Dead link|date=March 2008 2006-01-27]

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. [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?dd=26&mm=1&yyyy=2006 B92 - Vesti - Umrla beba rođena posle nesreće ] 2006-01-26] Speaking to the Podgorica daily "Pobjeda", 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". [http://www.rts.co.yu/jedna_vest.asp?source=komentar&IDNews=139804 Dead link|date=September 2008]

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." [ [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2006&mm=01&dd=28&nav_id=186711&nav_category=16 B92 - Vesti - Žalba na pritvor mašinovođi] 2006-01-28]

In November 2007 the courts sentenced Slobodan Drobnjak to 6 years of imprisonment and freed all 11 other charged personnel from the Railways.

Public reaction

Asked in the wake of Lompar's and Medenica's resignations if the government should resign, deputy Prime Minister Miroslav Ivanišević 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. [ [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2006&mm=01&dd=23&nav_id=186124 B92 - Vesti - CG: Najmanje 40 poginulo ] 2006-01-23]

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 of engaging in a public smear campaign with the aim of washing their hands of responsibility by sacrificing an employee. [ [http://www.dan.cg.yu/?nivo=3&rubrika=Tragedija&datum=2006-01-27&clanak=45251 Dan online: Lakše bi nam bilo da je poginuo ] 2006-01-27]

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. [ [http://www.dan.cg.yu/?nivo=3&rubrika=Aktuelnosti&datum=2006-01-28&clanak=45394 Dan online: Pokušali da uklone dokaze ] 2006-01-28]

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.

Casualties

The following is a list of the 43 identified casualties confirmed to have died.

* Mirko Petričević (born July 25, 1954) from Podgorica
* 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 Danilovgrad
* Cmiljana Furundžić (born August 15, 1926) from Bijelo Polje
* Dragoje Femić (born January 18, 1969) from Bijelo Polje
* Leka Bubanja (born January 19, 1961) from 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 Ulcinj
* 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 Cetinje
* 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 Nikšić
* Bojana Vukićević (born 1975) from Bijelo Polje

See also

* List of rail accidents

ources

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4641278.stm "Dozens dead in Balkan train crash"] , BBC News Online, January 23, 2006
* [http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-23T215708Z_01_L23415033_RTRUKOC_0_US-SERBIAMONTENEGRO-DERAILMENT.xml "Thirty-nine dead in Montenegro train derailment"] , Reuters, January 23, 2006
* [http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/01/23/ap2470104.html "Serbia-Montenegro Train Crash Kills 39"] , Associated Press, January 23, 2006
* [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/23/montenegro.crash/index.html "39 Dead in Montenegro Train Crash"] , CNN, January 23, 2006
* [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2006&mm=01&dd=23&nav_id=186124 "CG: Najmanje 41 poginuo i 5 dece"] , B92, January 23, 2006
* [http://www.blic.co.yu/arhiva/2006-01-27/strane/tema.htm "Nesreća se morala dogoditi"] , Blic, January 27, 2006

References