- 11. May 2018.
The story about the largest river disaster in this part of the world
In early September 1952. Sava Bridge was closed for traffic due to renovations, so traveling between Old Belgrade and Zemun was not easy for citizens. They had two options for passing this route. First one was to reach Sava Bridge by bus and afterwards to cross the bridge by foot or to take a river ride organized by daily operating boats.
However, on 9 of September 1952. the bridge was closed for pedestrians too, so many people were forced to use river ride. Boat named "Nis" was carrying passengers on a daily basis during the renewal of Sava Bridge, with capacity up to 60 passengers per ride. On 9 of September "Nis" carried more passengers than allowed. More than 100 tickets were sold on that day for afternoon ride.
According to the police report at 1:07 p.m. "Nis" started it last journey. It had reached the confluence of two rivers normally, and than was invated by strong rain and wind, blowing at a speed greater than 100km/h. Due to the force of the wind, boat picthed and sank to the bottom of the river to a depth of 14 meters, in no more than just 3 minutes.
Over 100 people died in this terrible accident. The exact number of casualties has never been determined beacuse official reports showed that 106 tickets were sold, but it is assumed that on the boat was approximately 150 people.
About 30 people survived the biggest river accident in the history of former Yugoslavia remembered as The Tragedy of Danube's Titanic!