Investigators enter burned Vjesnik Building as demolition plans advance

Eight days after Zagreb’s Vjesnik building was gutted by a massive fire, investigators were finally able to enter the structure on Wednesday to collect evidence.

Two 18-year-old suspects remain in investigative custody in connection with the blaze. Police believe a group of five young men snuck into the largely empty high-rise — used mostly for storage since the Vjesnik newspaper shut down in 2012 — and set a box of papers on fire, causing flames to spread rapidly throughout the building.

Meanwhile, authorities are determining how best to demolish the tower, which structural engineers declared unsafe on Monday.

Officials said the 16-story building will likely be brought down by controlled implosion, a method used only a few times in Croatia. In this case, charges would probably be placed to break the tower in two, causing it to fall westward toward Savska Street.

A demolition plan should be drafted within two to three weeks, said Construction Minister Branko Bačić, adding that the new structure built on the site will also serve a “public purpose.”

“We want to retain the public purpose of the complex. There is no discussion of any other option. That is the position of the government, as the majority owner,” he said.

As plans move forward, severe traffic congestion caused by the closure of the Slavonska Avenue underpass north of the Vjesnik building continues to test drivers’ patience. The city is creating a temporary lane expansion to ease traffic, but Mayor Tomislav Tomašević has warned that nothing can replace the underpass, which cannot reopen until the Vjesnik tower is demolished. Work on the expansion is expected to take about a week.