The Chinese-built Budapest-Belgrade railway, a key project under the Belt and Road Initiative, has brought benefits to people in Serbia, with the opening of a key section between the country's two largest cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad dramatically slashing journey times and facilitating greater travel convenience.
Connecting the capital cities of Hungary and Serbia, the Budapest-Belgrade railway is a 350-kilometer-long high-speed rail line project which can hit maximum speeds of 200 kilometers per hour.
The stretch from Belgrade to Novi Sad, known as the Beno section, was opened for operation in March 2022, reducing the travel time between the two cities from around 90 minutes to just half an hour.
"The rails were not as good as the rails are now. So now it's really a huge difference. Not just the railroad, there are a bunch of bridges that have been built by Chinese builders. So we pretty much appreciate all the things that you have done for Serbia," said Marko Bulinovic, a passenger.
"This is my first time going with this train. And [for] my mother this is her fourth time. For her experience, she says it's very fast," said Marlo, another passenger.
In addition to its high speed, the ticket price for the Beno section is also attractively affordable, priced at just a little over five U.S. dollars.
"I take it because it's the cheapest way to get to Novi Sad and by far the fastest because by auto route, it takes about one hour [and] 15 minutes with a car, an hour 45 minutes with a bus. It being 30 minutes is the best thing that ever happened to us who have to commute to Novi Sad," said another passenger named Vojin Trivanovic.
"This is my first time taking this train, and I'm very satisfied. It used to be quite old, but now it looks very modern," said fellow passenger Lara Ilijana Dakic.
In late April, the Belgrade-Budapest railway project marked another significant new milestone as the tracks on the Novi Sad-Subotica section were successfully connected in the Serbian city of Backa Topola.
Once the entire project is completed by 2026, the overall travel time between the Serbian and Hungarian capitals will be reduced from eight hours down to less than three.
Chinese-built railway speeds up travel for Serbians
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made a hard landing in Iran's northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday, state-run IRIB TV reported.
Raisi’s helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters which was on its way from Khoda Afarin County, where Raisi had attended the inauguration ceremony of a storage dam along with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, to the provincial capital Tabriz where Raisi was scheduled to attend the inauguration of a petrochemical complex, according to the report.
"On May 19 local time, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi made a hard landing in East Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. According to our investigation in Iran, the incident took place near the Varzaghan area of East Azerbaijan. From the live broadcast on Iranian national television, we can see that the entire area of the accident site is in a state of severe foggy weather, which caused great trouble to the search and rescue work. In addition to Iranian President Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and other officials and entourage were also on the helicopter," said Li Jiannan, a CCTV reporter in Iran.
Speaking to IRIB TV, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's rough landing to the unfavorable weather conditions, which he said also impacted search and rescue work.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society Pirhossein Kolivand told IRIB TV that 40 rapid reaction teams had rushed to the scene and were monitoring the region while noting that there were difficulties in reaching the scene by land or by air due to the mountainous terrain and the bad weather conditions.
Kolivand, however, said drones were being used to search the region.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Baqeri has ordered the army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the police to make all-out efforts to search for and rescue the president and his accompanying team, said the Iran Newspaper.
Speaking to IRIB TV, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said medical teams had been stationed near the possible crash site.
Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said in a post on social media platform X that Vice President Mohsen Mansouri and several cabinet members were on their way to Tabriz after a meeting in Tehran.
Following the incident, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei expressed his hope that President Raisi and accompanying officials would be able to return home safely, saying that everyone should pray for them. Iranian people do not need to worry, and the work of the country and the government will not be affected, he said.
Following reports of the incident, leaders of neighboring countries, including Azerbaijan and Iraq, expressed concern over the developments and said they were ready to assist in search and rescue efforts.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the same day, saying that Türkiye is following the incident and hopes that Iranian President Raisi, Foreign Minister Abdollahian and other Iranian officials are safe and healthy. Türkiye has taken action to provide support for the search and rescue operation, the statement said.
Iranian president's helicopter makes hard landing in NW province
