Anniversary of the death of Marija and Nikola Petrovic: Years of pain and grief

A memorial service at the cemetery and a tribute at the commemorative plaque in the “Kralj Milutin” Elementary School in Gracanica marked today the 26th anniversary of the tragic death of Marija and Nikola Petrovic, who were killed in 1999 by a NATO bomb dropped on a “Nis-ekspres” passenger bus on the Luzane Bridge near Podujevo.

On May 1, 1999, Marija was 14 years old, and Nikola was two years older. Their grandmother Smiljana also perished with them that day.

Even 26 years later, their inconsolable parents still wonder what their children were guilty of.

Their mother, Zorica Petrovic, expressed hope that justice will one day prevail and said this time of year always brings the same painful questions.

“Maybe someday, some justice will come to light. Even when we’re no longer here, someone will remember them. There's a street named after them, a commemorative plaque here at the school, a monument at the cemetery—perhaps someone will remember them after we’re gone. We live day by day. Every year, when this time comes, we ask why and how this had to happen. We can’t sleep, we can’t eat—it tears us apart, that nervousness. We can’t forget. It is what it is, there’s no way out. So many mothers have grieved, every mother at her own child’s grave,” she said.

Marija and Nikola’s father, Dragisa, said it gets harder with each passing day and that 26 years have gone by in sorrow.

“Here we are, 26 years have passed in pain. We think about it every single day. From April 24 to May 1, we physically get sick. We wait for May 1st to come, to go to the cemetery—that’s what those villains, those murderers did to us. I go to the cemetery every other day to visit them, to talk to them—I have nothing else left. I don’t have the strength anymore, my hands tremble from nerves, from grief. As the days go by, we sink deeper and deeper. I don’t know if those murderers will ever be punished, but I doubt it,” said Dragisa.

Friends of Marija and Nikola initiated the installation of the commemorative plaque in the yard of “Kralj Milutin” Elementary School in Gracanica. Marija’s schoolmate, Miodrag Zivic, said the plaque is a testimony that two young lives were extinguished by the aggressor.

“It’s been 26 years since our friends were killed—on this day, they were murdered by the hands of the NATO aggressor, who, astonishingly, named their bombing campaign Operation Merciful Angel. Let this plaque in the schoolyard remind us of the two of them—as a witness—and remind our children, our students, and future generations that they were pupils of our school and that they died in the most horrific way at the hands of the aggressor,” Zivic stated.

On that day, May 1, 1999, when a NATO aircraft missile struck a bus crossing the Luzane Bridge on the Pristina–Podujevo road, 44 people lost their lives.