Novi Sad: Man Pulled Unconscious From Tunnel Below Fortress

Firefighter-rescuers pulled an unconscious man from an old railway tunnel beneath Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad on Friday, June 13, at around 5 p.m. The man, aged 23, was rushed to intensive care at the Emergency Center of the Clinical Center of Vojvodina. Police are determining the circumstances under which the incident occurred.

According to available information, the call came in late in the afternoon, and four rescuers were dispatched with a single fire vehicle. The team reached the tunnel beneath the fortress in eight minutes. The man was already unconscious at that point, so the extraction was carried out as quickly as possible, until the ambulance arrived.

How the intervention unfolded

The old railway tunnel beneath Petrovaradin Fortress is part of former infrastructure that is no longer in use. Access to that section of the complex is difficult and requires equipment, so the rescue team had to work in conditions of limited visibility and space. After the extraction, the injured man was handed over to the emergency medical team, which transported him to intensive care.

The young man reportedly had no documents on him at first, so police took over the task of establishing his identity and the circumstances. This is standard procedure when a person is found injured or unconscious in a place that is not routinely accessed. As of the time of writing, no official statement on the cause of the incident had been released.

Rescue teams in Novi Sad regularly respond in the area around the fortress, which is one of the largest lowland fortifications in this part of Europe and contains a network of underground corridors and galleries. Some of these spaces are neither marked nor secured for visitors, so venturing into them carries risk. Authorities have repeatedly warned that the underground sections of the complex are not intended for unsupervised exploration.

What is still unknown?

At this moment, it has not been officially confirmed how the young man ended up in the tunnel or what caused him to lose consciousness. Some sources suggest a fall, but this has not been confirmed by the competent institutions. Until police complete the investigation and gathering of information, any conclusion about the cause remains in the realm of speculation.

What is certain at this stage is that the intervention was swift and that the man reached the hospital alive. His condition, along with findings on the circumstances, will be known only once medical examinations and the police check are completed. We will report on the outcome and any new details once they are officially announced.

Incidents in places not meant for human presence raise the question of how secure the underground and abandoned parts of cities really are. Do you think access to such locations should be controlled more strictly?