Accident in Belgrade: Crane collapses, Chinese national killed, three injured

(Patria) - A worker from China was fatally injured today after a crane collapsed at the construction site of a new bridge in Belgrade. Three people were also injured in the incident.

The Belgrade police point out that they are at the scene and are determining the circumstances that led to this tragic accident.

Emergency services told RSE that they were notified of an accident at the construction site and dispatched three of their teams.

The Ministry of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure of Serbia confirmed that a Chinese national lost their life in the accident.

The works are being carried out at the site of the former Old Sava Bridge, which the authorities removed to build a new one at that location, claiming the old one was unsafe.

Two Chinese companies are engaged in the construction of the new bridge, through direct negotiation without a tender, based on an intergovernmental agreement between Serbia and China. Key data on contracts, the contractor selection process, and project conditions are not publicly available.

Parts for the new bridge are being manufactured in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, at the facility of the Chinese state-owned company "China State Construction Engineering".

The contractor for this project is another Chinese state-owned company, PowerChina. It is engaged in a number of infrastructure projects in Serbia, including the construction of an exhibition space for the international specialized exhibition EXPO.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs from January, 14,721 citizens of China have permits for temporary residence and work in Serbia.