A priest from Zrenjanin could go to prison for 12 years, and the hardest thing for him is that he lost almost all of his friends

Priest of the monastery Vranjine Neofit (Goran Kempanov) said to the prosecutor Romina Vlahovic that he is sorry for the accident where four of his friends lost their lives. 

A pregnant woman, her daughter (12) and her husband drowned: A friend jumped after them to save them and he disappeared in the Skadar lake (PHOTO)

The priest was arrested two days ago because he was steering with the boat which capsized that day around 15h in the channel of Moraca and Skadar lake.

The prosecutor ordered detention up to 72 hours due to the possible influence on witnesses, his defender, Jugoslav Krpovic, told "Vijesti".

- A large number of people should be questioned. My client told the prosecutor everything that he has already told the police - first of all, that it is hard for him because he lost so many friends in a moment - the lawyer Krpovic said.

He said that he respects the reasons of the prosecution and that they won't complain.

Foto: Facebook

- Our aim is to finish this as soon as possible and to find out who is responsible for this event because this was very hard for him (the priest). He is in shock, he lost almost all of his friends in Montenegro in a single moment, and he saw them almost every day - Krpovic said.

The priest told the prosecutor how many people were there at the mass on Sunday in the monastery Vranjina and that his friends remained to celebrate the name day.

The lawyer said that it was explained that they used to wear life jackets, but not on Sunday because someone stole them from the bark.

- He has told the prosecutor that there can be 15 passengers on the boat, but he was taking up to 8-9 that day - said Krpovic.

The monastery boat took 8 passengers when it capsized two days ago near Vranjine. The body of the pregnant woman was taken out of the body immediately, Jana Kumburovic, who drowned trying to save her twelve-year-old daughter Nina.

Foto: N. Ivanovski

Her husband Ratko died trying to free the two of them from the raging waves, who took their friend Darko Vukosevic to death, who tried to rescue them.

The thirty-three-year-old man from Podgorica first reached the shore, but he returned to water when he saw the family Kumburovic drowning. He gave them a wooden board, but he was struck by a wave.

The police suspected that the priest from Zrenjanin committed a serious act against general safety.

- G.K. steered a boat on February 3rd around 15 in the channel of the river Moraca and Skadar Lake, which capsized due to the weather conditions, near the place Vranjina, and it had 8 passengers without the proper equipment, life jackets. J.K. lost her life, whose body was found, While R.K., underage N.K., and D.V. are still missing. All available units are recruited to search for the three persons. 

He can be imprisoned up to 12 years for the criminal acts he is charged for.

The law predicts smaller punishment if the crime was committed out of negligence. Article 338 prescribes a prison sentence of up to 12 years if the death of one or more persons resulted from that criminal offense.

Raco Dobrovic, a local from the village Bistrica and a neighbor of the Kumburovic family said that the tragedy on the lake is a tragedy for everybody.

- This misfortunate family lives in my village. That is an honorable family, who had a hard life. They struggled, he worked for daily wage - he cut some grass, he plowed, did hard physical labor to support his family. The church built them a house, and he helped by transporting material to make the road to the monastery Vranjina. He kept coming to the church. Alone and with his family - said Dobrovic.

(Telegraf.co.uk / Vijesti)