Body of Young Police Officer Recovered From Drina River

The body of a young police officer, aged 23, from Loznica, who had vanished a day earlier in the swollen waters of the Drina near Lesnica, was recovered on Tuesday by the Gendarmerie. The search that began on Tuesday afternoon ended in the worst possible way, after several hours of combing the riverbed and the banks.

According to initial information, the young man had gone swimming with friends in the area of Azemova Bara, near the well-known stretch of the Drina known locally as the Drina Bay. What looked like an ordinary summer day turned into tragedy within minutes. The water pulled him under, and the friends who were with him were unable to reach him in time.

A river that changes in minutes

That afternoon the Drina was not the river the locals had grown up with. The water level, according to the authorities, rose sharply by around three metres. The current strengthened, and murky water covered the shallows that had seemed safe only moments earlier. In such conditions, even a strong swimmer stands little chance.

All available crews were deployed for the search at once. A specialist water-rescue team from Sabac, equipped for work in fast-moving water, was sent to the scene. Alongside them worked police, firefighters and ambulance crews. Both the river’s course and the shoreline were searched until the body was found.

The location is no accident. For years, the Drina Bay near Lesnica has been one of the most popular bathing spots in this part of western Serbia. That is precisely why every case like this shakes the whole community, especially when it involves a young man who had only just begun his professional life.

Why does the Drina claim lives every summer?

Part of the answer lies in the river itself. The Drina is known for its deceptive current, whirlpools and sudden changes in water level, particularly when water is released from upstream reservoirs. What looks calm on the surface hides a powerful undertow. That is why water-rescue experts issue the same warning every summer: an unfamiliar river should never be underestimated, and swimming outside marked and supervised areas carries serious risk.

This year, too, the bathing season has not passed without tragedy. Behind the dry figures on water levels and rescue teams stands a family that lost a son in a single day, and a police force that lost a colleague. Formal identification remains with the prosecution and the police, so the details surrounding the death are still being established.

Similar warnings have been issued in previous summers, yet rivers and the sea keep claiming lives, most often those of young people. As a society, do we take seriously enough how quickly a carefree day by the water can turn into tragedy?