Three children drown in Morava, Cicevac in mourning

Three young lives were lost on Sunday in the same river, at two points dozens of kilometres apart, within the span of only a few hours. The Morava, which draws children and swimmers every summer, this time claimed three of them.

In the Velika Morava near Donja Livadica, within the municipality of Velika Plana, a 14-year-old girl drowned. Her body was recovered at around 5 p.m. An autopsy has been ordered by the competent prosecutor’s office to establish the exact circumstances of her death. Out of respect for the family and given her age, her name is not being published.

Only hours apart, on that same day, a second tragedy unfolded downstream, on the Juzna Morava near Stalac. Two boys, aged eleven and twelve and pupils at a primary school in Stalac, drowned beneath the railway bridge while fishing.

How did the accident near Stalac happen?

According to available reports, the boys were pulled under by a whirlpool. One of them waded into the water to free a tangled fishing line, and when he got into difficulty, the other tried to save him. Neither made it back to the bank. The spot where they had been fishing lies beneath the railway bridge, on a stretch of river that looks calm at first glance.

The Morava, both the Velika and the Juzna, has carried a reputation as a dangerous river for years despite its placid surface. Authorities have repeatedly warned that the Morava has strong underwater currents, sudden changes in depth, and whirlpools capable of dragging down even an adult swimmer, let alone a child. Water that seems shallow and warm near the bank drops within a few metres into deep, cold layers.

What did the authorities say?

The municipality of Cicevac, home to the two boys who died, declared Tuesday, June 9, a day of mourning. Flags on public institutions will fly at half-mast, and scheduled events have been adjusted to the circumstances.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the boys who lost their lives, to their schoolmates and to all citizens deeply shaken by this tragedy,” the Cicevac municipality said.

For small communities like Stalac, losing two pupils from the same school in a single day is a blow felt in every household. Teachers, classmates and neighbours have been left speechless by what happened on the river they grew up beside.

Summer has only just begun, and rivers and lakes are once again becoming gathering places for the youngest. Are the banks of the Morava and other Serbian rivers marked and supervised well enough, or must we wait for tragedies like this one to occur before we act?