A sad story in a couple of pictures: On this day, the famous bridge in Novi Sad was destroyed in the bombing, the structure was swallowed by the Danube

During the fall, the concrete-reinforced construction and the arches were swallowed by the Danube, and the remains of the ends of the bridge remained as a reminder that it once stood in that place.

The detonations that rang out on April 26, 1999, in the dead of night, shook Novi Sad when NATO missiles hit the famous Žeželjev bridge with the intention of collapsing it, which it did. The bridge defiantly resisted for days before that, which is why it was called a “martyr”, but at the same time it was also a “hero” bridge. Wounded for days, he could not stand it and at 1:20 a.m. he returned to the river on that fateful April 26.

In the dead of night, around 1:20 a.m., he returned to the river, and on that occasion the people of Novi Sad were left without the third bridge, and nothing connected the banks of the Danube, the Bačka and Srem sides were completely exposed.

Žeželjev Bridge was one of the three bridges that graced Novi Sad, and it should be noted that the bridge was the last one built. During the fall, the concrete-reinforced construction and the arches were swallowed by the Danube, and the remains of the ends of the bridge remained as a reminder that it was once in that place.

The next morning, a crowd of people from Novi Sad gathered on the shore, where they were taken aback by the sight, and on that occasion they left flowers and timidly lit candles.

Before the demolition, the bridge was also targeted on April 22 at 3:10 p.m. with as many as four missiles, but it still weakened on April 26. In April of the war, the bridge was hit by at least fifteen missiles, of which on April 26, they were decisive.

With its demolition, more than 40,000 inhabitants of the Srem side were left without water, and the people of Novi Sad suffered for several days with water supply due to the cut off of the main feeder.

Let us remind you that the Žeželje Bridge was built from prestressed concrete, and it was opened to traffic in 1961 on the occasion of the Liberation Day of the city on October 23. Preparations for its construction began six years earlier. It was a road-railway bridge with a length of 446 meters and a width of 21.50 meters.

Nineteen years since its demolition, in all its dazzling beauty, white grandiose arches, the Žeželjev Bridge hugs the coast of Srem and Bač again since September 1, 2018, when it was ceremonially opened in the presence of Aleksandar Vučić, the President of Serbia, and Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for road and bicycle traffic as well as for pedestrians.

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