NOBODY RESPONDED TO GAS LEAK REPORTS: The day after the explosion in Uzice, in which four people were injured, injured tenants seek justice.

The Dragana Ž most seriously injured. (44) was transferred to Belgrade for further treatment with third degree burns, she is in a stable condition and tenants gathered around the incinerator claim: we live only by sheer luck, we have been informing authorities of the danger of gas leaks for a month and a half, but someone wanted a problem Cover up!

The explosion in Krčagovo also revealed a criminal act: metering and regulation stations that are being built exclusively by AD “Užice-gas” in Užice – they do not have any construction or use permits!

– About a month and a half ago, the gas began to be felt in the bathrooms, in all the apartments. I personally informed the inspection and the AD company “Uzice-gas”, which carries out gasification in Uzice, that we have a problem. They came, measured with a device and it turned out that there was gas, but they reassured us that there was no danger and that it was ammonia or some acid that was spilling into the sewer. I was persistent, I called them every day, fearing that something bad would happen – explains the tenant of the building in Krčagovo. – Gas was felt in all bathrooms, it came from the sewer pipes. It can be felt even outside, in the courtyard of the building, mainly near an axis. However, they did not want to cut the supply of AD “Uzice-gas”, with the comment that everything is fine. They followed the advice “let’s open the windows a bit so there is ventilation.”

All tenants in the building make the same statement. An elderly woman in the apartment next to the place where the explosion occurred says that she put on a mask every time she entered the bathroom.

– I was afraid of poisoning or explosion, the gas felt so strong. I’ve been bathing with children for the last month and a half, out of fear, adds a woman from the building on Miloš Obrenović street.

At the time of the explosion, on Saturday at 5:50 p.m., Dragana Ž. she was alone in the apartment.

– I live in the next building, my window looks exactly at the apartment where the explosion occurred. The blow was terrifying, her window was smashed and fire erupted through the window in the same seconds. The concrete, parts of the walls and facades blew dozens of meters around. The fire was burning through the window and the terrace, I was sure there were no survivors in that apartment – says the neighbor, on the pile of rubble and soot. – Shortly after, I saw a woman from the apartment that her neighbor, a policeman, was taking to a safe place. He was the first to enter the apartment.

Soon, firefighters and an ambulance arrived in the village of Krčagovo. They evacuated a total of six tenants and dragged people from the attic, from the apartment over the explosion site, through the window, and up the raised stairs along the facade.

Building on Ulica Miloš Obrenović Street / Photo by Nikola Janković

As the tenants spoke, the prosecutor appeared on the scene, the investigation is ongoing, and the tenants reported all their findings to authorities.

Meanwhile, the owners of the two destroyed apartments, black with soot, dump the ashes outside. Among them is Borko Ž., Dragana’s son, seriously injured.

– The mother has burns on her legs and body. Just before the explosion, she went out to walk the dog, did her shopping. The explosion occurred a minute after she entered the apartment, probably when she turned on the light. We do not have a gas bottle in the apartment, the mother does not smoke … And the boiler remained intact – explains Borko. – The flames caught her, she ran to the terrace, and then the neighbor came to help. Until this is resolved, I will stay in the village …

While the tenants of the two apartments search for accommodation for a period that should somehow survive, an investigation will continue, the aim of which is to find the culprits of the accident that ended in pure luck with no human victims.

SERIOUS FAULTS AD “UZICE-GAS”

At JKP “Gradska toplana”, “Novosti” discovers that the connections and metering and regulation stations that only AD “Uzice-gas” is building in Uzice – they do not have a building permit! Therefore, they do not even have permission to use, and were put into operation, which is a crime.

– It seems impossible and scary, but there are a lot of such wild MRS owned by AD “Uzice-gas” in Uzice: it is about the seven boiler rooms converted from solid fuels to gas – explain the people responsible at JKP for “Novosti “” District heating plant “. – The measuring stations of the company “Sreten Gudurić”, the company “Prvi partizan”, without the permission of construction and use, are even the measuring and regulation stations for the First Primary School, for the primary schools “Slobodan Sekulić” , “Nada Matić”, “Peta Elementary School” …