page_title: Niš (boat)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Niš (boat) / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Soutok Sávy s Dunajem v Bělehradě při rozvodněné Sávě. Pohled z Kalemeganu English: View of the Sava and Danube confluence in Belgrade, seen during Sava flood from Kalemegdan Fortress, Belgrade Српски / srpski: Pogled na ušće Save u Dunav u Beogradu tokom poplava u Srbiji u maju 2014.
context_page_description: The sinking of the ferry Niš, which occurred on 9 September 1952, is the deadliest ship accident in Serbia, either military or civilian, and the deadliest river accident in Yugoslavia. As a result of a freak storm above the mouth of the Sava into the Danube, at least 127 people were killed, but the exact number of fatalities remains unknown. The shipwreck has been labeled as the "Danubian Titanic".
context_section_description: News about the disaster were internationally reported. The government of Yugoslavia declared three days of national mourning and promised state help for the children who lost parents and families who lost breadwinners. The State Insurance Institution announced that all passengers were insured and that for each dead they will pay 50,000 dinars and for survived but left with full disability, 100,000 dinars.
  The only two daily newsparers in Belgrade at the time, Politika and Borba did report about the disaster, in generally correct and thoughtful manner, however, despite the magnitude of the accident, none published the news on the front page. At that time, 10 year anniversary of the Yugoslav War Navy was celebrated, so it would be impractical to publish two such news side by side. Still relatively new Communist government suppressed the news about the accident as much as possible as the setbacks and failures were to be overlooked in general. Politika in its 10 September issue had a statement from the captain Nobilo, while on the 12th it published statements from the witnesses. Borba, in its 11 September issue gave detailed timetable of what happened after the sinking and the salvage  mission which ensued. In the next several days, the reports of the accident were mixed with the "successes": lighting up of the coke furnaces in Lukavac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, establishing of the regular traffic on the Belgrade-Zagreb highway and even the "great philatelist exhibition in Belgrade".
  As a result of such policy ("dictatorship of optimism"), the event initially spawned numerous conspiracy theories and fairytale stories, but ultimately the tragedy was left to the collective oblivion. As of 2018 there is no memorial of any kind marking the event. Also, it didn't find its place in the art, except for the fictional 2014 novel Shipwreck (Brodolom) by Vlada Arsić.
  Immediately after the accident, the stories began circulating through the city about what happened. The accent was especially on the weird circumstances of the storm, which above the land wasn't nearly as strong as it was above the rivers, either in Belgrade or Zemun. Enhanced by gossiping, it appeared that the "heavenly forces" struck only "the Niš and its passengers" and several urban myths about the fates of the passengers developed.
  Stories from that period, some of which were published later in the newspapers as witness' statements, include the case of Dragoljub Jovanović from Zemun. He became father that morning and decided to go to Belgrade to buy some presents, but perished in return. Marija Dimitrijević was drowned with her two daughters, while the third survived as Dimitrijević left her with a friend in the Sava port, because the ferry was overcrowded. Ljubiša Petrović, though he couldn't swim, managed to float on the surface holding onto a plank and was rescued. A young mother who left the maternity hospital that morning, was found deep inside the ship clutching baby in her arms. Ana Bajzert, a worker in the "Sutjeska" textile factory, couldn't swim but the waves pushed her ashore alive while her 12-years old daughter drowned. Airforce major reached the bank swimming with one hand, while holding someone else's child under his other arm believing he is saving his son, while his wife and son drowned inside the ship. One girl managed to swim to the bank and abruptly died at spot.
  One of the survivors was a 17-year old Alenka Rančić, later a popular actress. With several other survivors, she participated in the commemoration in 2002, marking the 50th anniversary of the accident. They put flower garlands in the river, on the location of the accident.
caption: View from the Belgrade Fortress on the mouth of the Sava into the Danube. The "Niš" sank between the Nebojša Tower (center of the photo) and the Great War Island (central-left green tip)
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