Divers Search Klisa Canal After Three Young People Die
A car with Zrenjanin plates ran off the road into a canal about a metre and a half deep in Klisa near Novi Sad. Three young people died, and divers searched the water over fears of a fourth victim.
- Three young people, aged 27, 32 and 34, died in a canal in Klisa near Novi Sad.
- Divers searched the canal after a woman's handbag found in the water raised fears of a possible fourth victim, but no further body was found.
- The car, which carried Zrenjanin plates, ran into water about 1.5 metres deep; an autopsy and a technical inspection of the vehicle have been ordered.
Three young people died in a canal in the Klisa district of Novi Sad. A car with Zrenjanin registration plates ran off an unclassified road and ended up in water about a metre and a half deep. Over the past two days, authorities have confirmed the identities of all three of the dead.
According to available information, those killed were R.F., 32, from Novi Becej, K.M., 34, from Belgrade, and N.P., 27, from Novi Sad. All three were found inside the vehicle, which had overturned and remained in the canal. The final identity was confirmed later, after early reports had spoken of two dead.
The vehicle overturned on an unclassified road in the area of Majke Jugovica Street. According to first reports, the car left the roadway and flipped into the canal that runs alongside it. Firefighters and rescue crews pulled the vehicle from the murky water while traffic police secured the scene.
Why were divers called to the scene?
During the on-site investigation, a woman’s handbag was found in the water beside the vehicle. That discovery raised the possibility that a fourth person had been in the car at the moment it went off the road and may have been thrown from it as it overturned. Divers were sent to the site as a result.
The divers thoroughly searched the murky water and the bottom of the canal. According to accounts from the scene, the search established that there was no additional body and that three people had been in the vehicle at the time of the crash. The suspicion of a fourth victim was ruled out, and the handbag most likely belonged to one of the dead.
Checks like these are standard procedure when the circumstances at a scene leave room for doubt. When an item remains in the water that is not necessarily linked to known occupants, crews do not close the investigation until the area has been searched. The aim is to rule out the chance that someone was left unnoticed beneath the surface.
What is the investigation still establishing?
After being recovered, the vehicle was sent for a technical inspection. The goal is to determine whether a fault existed before the car went off the road that could have contributed to the crash, or whether the cause lies solely in the driving conditions and the state of the road. Unclassified roads along canals often have no safety barriers, so even a small driving error can have severe consequences.
Authorities have also ordered autopsies of the dead. The autopsy findings should show the exact cause of death and whether it resulted from injuries in the collision or from drowning after the vehicle ended up in the water. According to unofficial information, the group was probably returning from fishing, but the exact sequence of events will be established by the investigation.
The official cause of the crash has still not been announced. Until the investigation and forensic examination are complete, any claim about blame remains a matter of assumption. What is known so far is that three young people died on a stretch where the road runs right along the water’s edge.
Tragedies on unprotected roads beside canals recur year after year, especially in the flat parts of Vojvodina. How much could safety barriers and better signage on such stretches do to prevent similar crashes?
