Vesic from Pirot: Ammonia is still leaking, no reason to panic, but there is reason to be careful

Photo: MUP, Tanjug/Milos Milivojevic

Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic is in Pirot, a day after a rail tank transporting ammonia overturned on the railway between Pirot and Stanicenje, with the gas leaking into the atmosphere.

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"There is no reason to panic, the situation is under control, but there is reason to be cautious, because the incident is not over and all the consequences have not been repaired. Citizens should follow instructions, so that we can get out of this with as little damage as possible and protect people's lives, which is the most important thing. The president was interested in coming to the scene immediately, for the situation to be resolved.

The ministry has formed two commissions, one that inspects transportation of dangerous goods, the other regarding railway traffic. The investigation will begin immediately, we are determining under what conditions this happened. We will publish the reports and they will be available to the public," said the minister and thanked the Emergency Situations Sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, as well as the leadership of the City of Pirot.

Vesic said that measurements have been taken at five locations and the presence of ammonia was not recorded at any of them.

"I am also in touch with Minister Irena Vujovic," Vesic said and added that this is not the first time that a train derailed in this location.

"The reason is poor infrastructure. Back in 2018, we signed a contract to reconstruct the railway from Nis to Dimitrovgrad. Unfortunately, the tender was announced only this year in March. Why the three-year wait, we will talk about that," the minister said and added that he expects that the reconstruction of the railway will start by June at the latest and that after that, trains will be able to run at 120 kilometers per hour there.

A train transporting ammonia derailed yesterday between Pirot and Stanicenje when the gas leaked into the atmosphere, which is why an emergency situation has been declared in Pirot.

Reports also said that the Nis Clinical Center received 15 patients, 12 adults and 3 children, who reported with ammonia poisoning.

According to the doctors who spoke for the press on Monday morning at 6 am, all patients are currently stable and their lives are not in danger.

(Telegraf.rs/RTS)