Karaburma crash: Renault driver, 83, dies after collision
Dragomir M. died at the Emergency Center after a crash in Belgrade's Visnjicka Street that damaged eight vehicles. Prosecutors ordered an autopsy; the cause is unknown.
Renault driver Dragomir M. (83) died of severe injuries at the Emergency Center after a collision at the intersection of Visnjicka and Podrugovic streets in Karaburma. The crash happened on Sunday, October 18, and Belgrade police and the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade are leading the investigation.
What is known about the Karaburma crash?
According to four media outlets, a Renault Megane driven by Dragomir M. and a Mercedes driven by M. K. (55) collided in the municipality of Palilula. The circumstances have not been established. After the first impact, vehicles parked along the road were hit as well: six more cars were damaged, bringing the total to eight vehicles. Mondo also reports that a traffic light was damaged.
Doctors at the Emergency Center spent hours trying to save the Renault driver, but he died. The exact time of death has not been released. Video and photos of the wrecked vehicles soon appeared on social media.
The injured were taken to the Emergency Center for examination. The extent of their injuries has not been released.
Where do the reports differ?
Telegraf and Alo say the collision happened around noon, while Mondo’s first report on Sunday puts it at about 12:50 p.m. The accounts of how it unfolded differ too. According to Mondo, the driver of a Mercedes G-Class first struck a Renault Clio on the roadway, bounced off toward a building’s parking lot and plowed into several parked vehicles. By that report, the Renault’s doors were smashed in and its front end was completely destroyed. Telegraf and Alo, by contrast, write about a Renault Megane, and Informer says Megane in its text while the caption under its photo says Clio.
The number of injured does not match either. Telegraf and Alo state that five people were injured in total, then a few lines later say five more were injured besides the dead driver. It is impossible to tell whether Dragomir M. is counted among the five. Mondo’s first report, written before it was known that the driver had died, also speaks of five injured.
What comes next in the investigation?
The competent prosecutor’s office has ordered an autopsy of the victim and a detailed on-site investigation to establish all the circumstances of the crash, the speed of the vehicles and the exact cause of the collision. The cause is not yet known, and neither driver has been named as responsible.
The reports we reviewed give no information on the status of the Mercedes driver, M. K. (55), or on whether proceedings have been opened against anyone. Until the investigation and the autopsy are complete, how the collision happened and how fast the vehicles were traveling remain open questions.
