Eight Serbian Tourists Survive Van Crash Near Veles

For the thousands of Serbian citizens setting off in convoys toward the Greek coast these days, the news that arrived from North Macedonia reads like a personal warning: a tour agency van carrying eight passengers from Serbia ran off the road on a stretch near Veles in the morning hours of July 20, while the vehicle was on its way to a holiday in Greece. What could have ended in tragedy was resolved without a single injury, yet it left behind a question that resurfaces every summer along the Balkan transit routes.

According to one of the passengers, the driver was exhausted from a previous shift and, at one point, lost control of the vehicle, which then left the roadway and came to rest against a guardrail. The same passenger told Serbian media that it was almost a miracle that everyone stayed alive and unhurt. The vehicle suffered material damage, but every passenger described their own condition as something bordering on a fortunate outcome.

What exactly happened on the stretch near Veles?

The motorway stretch near Veles is one of the busiest points on the corridor linking Serbia with Greece through North Macedonia, and it is precisely this route that becomes clogged during the summer months with vehicles of domestic travelers and tour operators. According to the available statements, the van left the roadway and ended up leaning against a guardrail beside the road, in daylight conditions and without a collision with another vehicle.

Macedonian police arrived at the scene, assisted the passengers and drove them to Veles, where the situation was further resolved. The driver gave a statement to the competent authorities, and the circumstances under which he lost control of the vehicle will be the subject of an official review. At this moment, the prevailing account is that fatigue, accumulated over consecutive drives, was decisive in the driver failing to react at the crucial moment.

Outcomes like this rarely come on their own. Behind every safely resolved accident lies a web of circumstances that could have gone the other way, and passengers who have been through such an experience most often remember it as the moment when an entire holiday plan turned, in a second, into a struggle for their own safety.

Why is driver fatigue at the center of the story again?

Driver fatigue on long-haul routes is not a new topic, but it returns every summer with the same seriousness. Tourist transport toward Greek destinations involves hours-long, often overnight drives, with short breaks and pressure to keep to the schedule. When consecutive shifts without sufficient rest are added to that, the line between a routine drive and a genuine risk becomes thin.

The case near Veles differs from many others precisely because it claimed no victims, and it therefore offers a chance to discuss the problem before the worst happens. For travelers from Serbia who are only now planning their trip, this is a reminder that the choice of carrier, respect for rest breaks and alertness during the drive are not a formality but a matter of safety for the entire group. Authorities across the region have warned for years about the dangers of fatigue behind the wheel, and every situation like this makes that warning more concrete.

Eight people returned home, or continued toward the sea, with a story that could have ended far worse. How many more times will we, as a region, have to rely on luck before passenger safety on the summer corridors becomes the rule rather than the exception?