At least three other people were rescued on Friday and hospitalised with serious injuries, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said. He did not expect the death toll to rise much further.
President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed the death toll in a televised address late on Friday. He said a 6-year-old girl and a citizen of North Macedonia were among those killed and five of the victims still had not been identified.
“It is difficult to say anything meaningful,” Vucic said in his address. “As the president of Serbia, I demand that all those who are responsible for this are … punished.”
The collapse of a 35-metre (115ft) length of roofing occurred at noon (11:00 GMT) on a sunny day in the city about 70km (40 miles) northwest of the capital, Belgrade. The dead were pulled from the rubble throughout the afternoon and into the evening.
“Our windows were open as it was warm outside, and I heard a huge rumble and saw a plume of dust. That’s all I saw. Later I heard what happened,” Vera, an 86-year-old pensioner who lives about 200 metres (220 yards) from the scene, told the Reuters news agency.
About 80 rescuers were at the scene, officials said. Ambulances and emergency teams were dispatched to the downtown station, and bulldozers removed debris.
Emergency services used two large diggers into the evening to help free two women who had been trapped under the rubble. They were in critical condition, said Vesna Turkulov, the head of the Clinical Center of Vojvodina, the hospital where the women were taken.
MNA/
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