On the 12th of March afternoon, seven Roma children were injured during an explosion which was caused by an electricity failure in the Galipole Street in the romani settlement in Chukarica. Four of the children are severely burned, and their situation is serious, stated the University Children’s Clinic in Belgrade.

According to initial information, the children were playing on a heap of garbage under a power line and according to witnesses, this occurred due to the so called electric arc.

After the incident, the location was visited by representatives from the local government and several Roma NGOs and activists.

Also, the NGO sector reacts that the country is passive in the numerous problems which are present in the Roma settlements, and that this is not the first time that this happened.

They say that this passive attitude of the country has caused several accidents in the past years.

- 2020 – Fire in a house in a large numbered family

- 18.01.2020 – A fire has left two Roma families from Bujanovac without a roof over their head.

- 2008 – A fire in Bezhanija in Belgrade

- 2016 – 6 houses were burnt to the ground in the Roma settlement at the Milorad Jovanovic Street.

- Five Roma families were left without a home after a fire in the “Mali Leskovac” settlement in Mirijevo.

Will the life of the Roma in Serbia improve and be safer and normal? How much more? 

fShare

Tweet