Five snowbound people rescued overnight in Serbia: Firefighters saved their lives!

Photo: Nikola Tomic

Inspector with the Directorate for Firfighting and Rescue Units Nenad Radivojevic said on Friday afternoon that there were no ongoing interventions because of the snow at that moment, but that they had three during the previous night, when five people stranded in their vehicles were evacuated.

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"We had three interventions during the night. It concerned evacuation of people from stranded vehicles. Five people were evacuated, two of them foreign nationals. Two vehicles got stuck (in the snow) in the vicinity of Vranje, and one in the vicinity of Novi Pazar," said Radivojevic.

Speaking about the fact that some places in Serbia lost electricity supply, Radivojevic said that EPS electric power utility company crews are on the ground doing repairs.

He also told RTS that water levels are stagnant and that is why there was no need for any interventions close to Serbia's rivers today.

"But, in the last days, we deployed 167 people and 73 vehicles on different types of interventions. Out of that, we engaged 19 water pumps and three boats. So we've had work to do because of the rising water levels," said Radivojevic.

According to him, since January 4, when the temperatures plummeted and snow started falling in Serbia, the firefighting and rescue units carried out 41 interventions to remove fallen trees, evacuated 30 persons and had to pump water out of 15 locations, in addition to assisting ambulance crews.

Radivojevic advised the citizens not to go on the road unless they have to, because the weather is so bad weather - and if they do have to, to use winter equipment for their vehicles, but also if possible have a shovel with them in case the car gets stranded in the snow, so that they can do something to help themselves.

"The advice is not to start a trip with an empty or half-empty tank, make sure it's always full, that the phone battery is always full, that they have a charger with them, and if they find themselves in a predicament they cannot solve, to dial 193, that is, the nearest fire-rescue unit that is able to intervene and help them," said Radivojevic.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)