Grdelica train bombing The Grdelica train bombing occurred on 12 April 1999 ( it was the second day of Serbian Orthodox Easter holidays that year ) , when two missiles fired by NATO aircraft hit a passenger train while it was passing across a railway bridge over the Južna Morava river at Grdelica gorge , some south of Belgrade in Serbia . As a result , 14 civilians including children and a pregnant woman were killed and another 16 passengers wounded . The bombing occurred during Operation Allied Force , a NATO operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ( FRY ) aimed at forcing the FRY government to end the repression of Albanians in Kosovo . The campaign had begun by attacking mainly military targets , but by mid - April the emphasis had changed to strategic and economic targets such as transport links , particularly major bridges . Many civilian casualties were reported in the solely residential areas far beyond such targets , as well as in destroyed media homes , public transportation vehicles , hotels and clerical offices . Events . The bombing occurred at about 11 . 40 hours local time . An AGM - 130 missile precision - guided munition released by a NATO F - 15E Strike Eagle struck the centre of the bridge at the exact moment that the No . 393 passenger train , en route from Belgrade to Ristovac , was crossing the bridge . The missile struck the train , causing major damage , but did not destroy the bridge . According to General Wesley Clark , who was the Supreme Allied Commander Europe ( SACEUR ) at the time , the train had been traveling too fast and the bomb was too close to the target for it to divert in time . The first missile had been fired from a significant distance from the target , and the pilot was allegedly not able to recognize the train visually . Realizing that the train had been hit but believing that he could still complete the mission by striking the end of the bridge where the train had already passed , the pilot then made another pass and fired a second missile . This one too hit the train . Clark described the second hit as an " uncanny accident " in which the train had continued moving into the target area , obscured by dust and smoke from the first strike , stating that the pilot allegedly had had less than one second to react . A gun camera video was released by NATO to support its version of the events . Controversy . The incident caused an immediate controversy in Serbia and abroad . The Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug released an editorial that accused NATO of performing the attack with the aim of " inflicting suffering on and destroying the Serbian people " . In a press conference the day after the attack , General Clark stated that " it was an unfortunate incident which he , and the crew , and all of us very much regret " and " it is one of those regrettable things that happen in a campaign like this and we are all very sorry for it , but we are doing the absolute best we can do to avoid collateral damage . " The U . S . Deputy Secretary of Defense , John Hamre , told the United States Congress a few months later that " We never wanted to destroy that train or kill its occupants . We did want to destroy the bridge and we regret this accident . " The German " Frankfurter Rundschau " prompted a further controversy during January 2000 , when it reported that the NATO video had been shown at three times its real speed , giving a misleading impression of the train ' s speed . The Pentagon and NATO stated that the error had been the result of the video being speeded up for battle damage assessment purposes , but not being slowed again for the press conference . Later investigation by Frankfurter Rundschau asserted that the video was sped up 4 . 7 times . Legal issues . The Yugoslav government and some Western groups characterised the attack as a " crime " . Other human rights organisations criticised the way that the attack had been continued after the train had been struck by the first strike . Amnesty International argued that the attack should have been stopped when the train had been struck , and that the second bombing had violated the principle of proportionality . In a post - war report , Amnesty stated that the incident The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ( ICTY ) established a committee during May 1999 to determine whether offences against international law had been committed during the NATO campaign . In its final report to the tribunal ' s Prosecutor , Carla Del Ponte , the committee took the view that the attack had been proportionate : The committee was divided over the question of whether the aircrew had behaved recklessly . It recommended nonetheless " that the attack on the train at Grdelica Gorge should not be investigated by the [ Prosecutor ] . " A . P . V . Rogers comments that the committee " must have considered the first missile strike to be a legitimate action against a military objective , the inference being that any civilian casualties of that strike were not disproportionate , and that the firing of the second missile was an error of judgment in the heat of the moment . " Aftermath . The damaged bridge was repaired and reopened during September 1999 . On 12 April 2007 a ceremony was performed at the site to mourn the victims on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the bombing .