Did Croatian MUP lie about the death of six-year-old Madina? Train driver confirms mother's words

ZAGREB, (Patria) - Madina Hosseini would have turned six on January 1st. Unfortunately, she died at 9:05 PM on November 21, 2017, at the Tovarnik railway station, writes Novi list.

The emergency medical service of the Vukovar-Srijem County could not save her, although they attempted to resuscitate her and administered adrenaline. Madina, according to medical documentation, had an open head wound on the back of her head. That wound, which is one of the facts no one disputes in this story, was inflicted by the train that was traveling from Tovarnik in Croatia towards Šid in Serbia.

The accident occurred on Serbian territory. Everything else is shrouded in a fog of contradictory testimonies from the Croatian police and the family of the deceased girl, and the testimony of the train driver obtained by Novi list does not support what the official Croatian authorities claim.

In a press release dated November 23, the Ministry of the Interior stated that Croatian police officers had spotted a group of people with a thermal imaging camera standing by the southern railway track about 300 meters from the border line. The family claims they were not standing, but were returning to Serbia after being expelled from Croatia by the police.

Madina's mother claims they were expelled after she requested asylum and that they were not allowed to even spend the night, although she asked them to, because it was already late and the children with her were very tired. Besides Madina, there were five other children in the group, aged two, three, six, eight, and 15.

- I started from Tovarnik towards Šid, somewhere just before leaving the Republic of Croatia for Serbia, I saw people walking from the direction of Tovarnik towards Šid on foot along the track. I gave a sound signal, and since they did not move, I started to brake. I had already entered Serbian territory, I passed the sign that says Republic of Croatia, and after about 100 meters I noticed that the locomotive had hit a child with its front right corner. I stopped 50 meters after that by braking hard - this is part of the testimony of the train driver involved in the accident, given at one hour after midnight on November 22 at the premises of the Šid Police Station, and obtained by Novi list.

This testimony is quite inconvenient for the claims of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior, according to which the group of migrants was standing 300 meters from the border deep within Serbian territory. Namely, the train driver testified that the group of people was moving from the Croatian border towards Serbia, and the fact that they were facing Serbia is also indicated by the fact that the train (coming from Croatia) hit the deceased child in the back of the head.

Furthermore, in the official note of the Police Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia (Srem Border Police Station, number 74/17), which is also in the possession of Novi list, the following is stated:

- The tragic event occurred when they were moving from the approximate border line of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia, after police officers of the Republic of Croatia prevented them from attempting to illegally enter Croatia, along the Zagreb-Belgrade main line in the direction of the settlement of Šid.

There is another discrepancy between the claims of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior on one hand, and the testimony of the Croatian train driver and the findings of the Serbian border police on the other.

Namely, members of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior determined that they had spotted the group of migrants just before the accident, 300 meters deep within the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The Serbian police, however, claim that the accident happened approximately 100 meters from the border, and the Croatian train driver also states the same in his statement. Furthermore, after the train was stopped by braking, the Serbian police determined that its 13 wagons were in Serbian territory, and six were still in Croatia.