MORE PEOPLE THAN IT CAN HOLD In Belgrade, a raft sank, tragedy was avoided

(Patria) - Belgrade raft "Fristajler" sank halfway last night during the New Year's Eve celebration. Witnesses of the drama that happened last night in the popular club say that the water began to flood about ten minutes after midnight, but they did not understand what was happening at first. When the raft tilted, panic and a rush to the exit began, writes Nova.rs.

According to one young man who celebrated the arrival of 2023 on "Fristajler" last night, the raft began to sink shortly after midnight.

"I arrived around 11 PM last night, Relja was a guest. We welcomed the New Year, and after 10 minutes, panic started. People were jumping, panicking. No one knew what was happening. The flooding started because of the large number of people in the back part of the raft. General panic ensued. There was only one exit. It wasn't immediately clear that it was flooding. It was immediately clear that there were also injured people, the police and firefighters arrived, and they were looking for some who allegedly jumped," this young man recounted.

He says he returned this morning to get his jacket that remained in a separate room on the raft, as he couldn't get to it last night due to the general chaos.

"People were trying to get out and jumping over each other, there were no instructions from security. There was a conflict between security and guests, one from my group participated. Everyone went to get their jackets from a separate room, security immediately and unnecessarily aggressively chased everyone away and didn't give us our jackets. I went back to find my jacket, I was shocked when I saw the jackets there. No one had moved them, and the raft was still sinking. I tried to pull out as many jackets as possible, I went back to that room three or four times, and it's not safe at all," this young man recounted.

The party turned into a panicked escape from the raft the moment the water began to flood the interior of the facility, according to one young woman.

"Everything was beautiful until suddenly we tilted. We didn't immediately understand what was happening, but when our feet got wet, real chaos ensued. Screams, shrieks, and panicked running towards the exit," the young woman said.

As seen in numerous videos and photos, the raft sank halfway, and guests ran out in panic.

"We were just waiting to reach the exit. Everyone suddenly started running, I was afraid I wouldn't make it out before it sank. Fortunately, the police and firefighters reacted quickly, and everything ended well," added an eyewitness.

Incidentally, Relja Popović performed on the raft and was among the first to be evacuated.

"At first, we didn't understand what was happening. It just started to tilt, and then the water began to flood rapidly. It was terrifying, girls around me started screaming horribly. I know one injured her leg. One after another, we started running outside," added one of the girls present.

As one of the police officers told Tanjug, the raft began to sink because there were many more people on it than it could actually accommodate.

The Emergency Center said there were no serious injuries during the incident. Several people received help for cuts, and two emergency medical teams were dispatched to the scene.