Three cars burn on Novi Sad boulevard, shop damaged
The fire around midnight also damaged a ground-floor shop in a nearby building. The cause is unknown, and unofficial information points to possible arson.
Three parked cars burned overnight between October 19 and 20 in a parking lot on Patriarch Pavle Boulevard in Novi Sad. The fire also damaged a ground-floor shop in a nearby building, along with part of the facade. According to first unofficial reports, the fire may have been set deliberately.
What is known about the fire on Patriarch Pavle Boulevard?
The fire broke out around midnight. Kurir and 021 report that it started around midnight, while Mondo writes that the cars were burning after midnight, so the exact moment the fire began has not been established. In photographs from the scene, the vehicles are completely destroyed. The makes of the cars have not been published.
At the ground-floor shop, the windows cracked from the heat, and traces of the fire are visible on part of the facade. The property damage is substantial, but no figure has been estimated.
The photographs from the scene come from the Instagram account 192_rs. Kurir credits them as a screenshot from that account, and Mondo reports that the account was the one that first wrote about the fire.
Was anyone injured?
The portals 021 and Mondo report that no one was hurt. Kurir says there is no official information on injuries, or on how the fire started. The sources we reviewed contain no statement from the police, the fire service or the prosecutor’s office.
Was the fire set deliberately?
For now, the suspicion of arson rests only on unofficial information. The portal 021 says the on-site investigation should show whether the fire was started intentionally. Kurir quotes a source familiar with the case, who has not been named:
“If the suspicion that the fire was deliberately started is confirmed, the investigation should establish how it was done and who might be responsible. Still, until all the circumstances are established, nothing can be said with certainty about the cause of the fire.”
Because the source is unknown, the statement cannot be verified, and the source cites no specific circumstance. None of the reports we reviewed mentions a suspect, an arrest or earlier complaints from the owners of the vehicles or the shop. Until the authorities publish their findings, the cause of the fire remains open, and arson is for now only one of the possibilities.
What happens next?
The authorities are expected to determine what caused the fire and whether it was deliberate or had another cause. According to Kurir, more information will be known once the relevant checks are carried out. The names of the owners of the destroyed vehicles and the shop have not been released, nor is it known whether the cars were insured.
Only if the cause is established as arson can anyone speak of a criminal offense and of who is charged with it. Until then, it is not known whether the fire started in one vehicle and spread to the other two, or whether several spots burned at once. None of the reports describes the order in which the cars were engulfed.
