Sjenica Farm Accident Kills Unregistered Worker, 25

A 25-year-old Tajik national has died in an accident at a farm in the village of Dolice, near Sjenica, after being buried under a large amount of wheat while a truck was being unloaded.

The young man had been working at the farm without being registered as an employee. Following the accident, the relevant labor inspectorate also flagged unsafe working conditions on the property.

The victim’s body has been sent for autopsy. The exact cause of death will be known once the examination is complete, according to the RINA agency, which was first to report the accident.

Police, the prosecutor’s office and the relevant inspection services are jointly establishing the full circumstances of the incident. The investigation is also looking into possible liability on the part of the employer, as well as whether the young man had received any proper training for the work he was doing at the time of the accident.

What Happened During the Unloading

The accident took place in the village of Dolice, in the municipality of Sjenica, in southwestern Serbia. According to information gathered by the RINA agency, the young man was buried under wheat at the moment a truck was unloading grain at the farm.

Accidents of this kind rank among the most severe workplace injuries, since a large volume of loose grain leaves almost no time to react. When a full truck is unloaded, the grain comes down suddenly and in great mass, and a worker positioned underneath or beside the load at that moment has no way to pull free. Neither Kurir nor Espreso, the outlets that first reported the story, gave a precise account of what happened after he was buried. The autopsy is expected to determine the exact cause of death.

Undeclared Work and Unsafe Conditions

According to the labor inspectorate, the young man had not been registered as a worker at the farm in Dolice. That means none of the rules on mandatory insurance or safety training, which an employer is required to put in place before assigning a worker to higher-risk tasks, applied to him.

Beyond the fact that the worker was not registered, the labor inspectorate also found unsafe working conditions on the property itself. Serbia’s occupational safety and health law obliges employers to provide safe working conditions for employees and to register them with the relevant authorities. Violating these provisions carries misdemeanor liability and, in more serious cases, criminal liability as well.

The employer’s responsibility is now the focus of the investigation. The prosecutor’s office, together with police and inspection services, needs to determine whether the accident resulted from failures in how work was organized at the farm, and whether there was any oversight of the unloading process at all at the moment the accident happened.

The fact that the unregistered worker was a foreign national adds another layer to the investigation, since authorities are also checking whether his employment was lawful in the first place and whether he was staying in Serbia on a proper legal basis.

An Autopsy Will Follow

The 25-year-old worker’s body has been sent for autopsy. The examination should establish the exact cause of his death, and its findings will also form the basis for any further steps against those found responsible, should liability be established.

Dolice is a village on the Pester Plateau, in the municipality of Sjenica, an area known for livestock farming and crop growing. Oversight of safety on agricultural holdings in the area is now receiving additional attention from the relevant authorities.

It has not yet been announced whether the farm’s employer has been identified, nor whether any proceedings have been launched against him. Police, the prosecutor’s office and the inspection services say the public will be informed of the investigation’s results, including the autopsy findings expected to clarify the circumstances of the young man’s death.