After a Fatal Zagreb-Area Crash, a Survivor Remembers Horror—and Croatian Heroes

After a Fatal Zagreb-Area Crash, a Survivor Remembers Horror—and Croatian Heroes
On November 8, a bus carrying passengers from Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia overturned on the 61st kilometre of the motorway near Ivanić Grad, outside Zagreb. According to Croatian prosecutors, the Serbian driver moved into the emergency lane, struck a metal barrier and lost control of the vehicle.

Two passengers died at the scene: 17-year-old Montenegrin national Vasilija P., a student from Kotor, and a 53-year-old Croatian woman. Six people suffered serious injuries and 27 others were treated for lighter injuries. Vasilija had been travelling with another student and a teacher to an international art gathering in Prague; she was later buried in Kotor.

Among the seriously injured was 50-year-old Serbian passenger Stanko Đorđević, who remains in Zagreb’s Dubrava Hospital. He said he suffered three broken shoulder blades and a brain contusion, but described the emotional damage as harder to escape.

“I saw the child who died in the seat in front of me, before my eyes,” Đorđević said, adding that the images still return when he closes his eyes. He recalled that Vasilija had been sitting directly ahead of him and that he had listened to her talk about her hopes during the journey.

Đorđević also credited the rescuers with helping prevent an even greater death toll. He said seven or eight ambulances arrived and that their speed and professionalism “saved at least five or six more lives.”

His account included strong praise for Croatia’s emergency medical teams, firefighters, police and Dubrava staff. He called their care humane and compassionate, saying the workers had become “my heroes” despite the tragedy that brought them together.