Macedonian president dies in plane crash B92 Radio

Macedonian president dies in plane crash
B92 Radio - February 26, 2004

Mostar -- Thursday – Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has died in an aircraft crash in Bosnia, government officials have confirmed.

Trajkovski was leading a nine-strong delegation to an international investment conference in Mostar when his aircraft crashed in foul weather about 45 kilometres from the town.

Bosnian Federation police spokesman Nedzad Vejzagic said that the wreckage of the aircraft has been located in the Hrgud region.

However, ground crews have been hampered in their search because the region is an uncleared mine field left from the Bosnian war of the 1990s.

Concerns were first raised when conference organisers received information that communications with the Macedonian aircraft were lost at 8.05 a.m.

B92’s Daniel Bukumirovic, on the spot in Mostar, reports that Mostar is shrouded in heavy fog.

The Bosnian ambassador to Skopje, Sava Ceklic, who is at the crash site, said that storms are lashing the region.

Delegations from Belgrade, Croatia and Slovenia have all cancelled their attendance at the Mostar conference because their aircraft have been unable to land.

Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski is reported to have cut short a visit to Dublin, where he was to formally lodge Macedonia’s application for EU membership before joining Trajkovski’s delegation in Mostar.

The Mostar conference has resumed despite the death of the Macedonian president.

The Chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, told media that more than two thousand people had arrived in Mostar from seventy different countries.

“Life goes on. We must try and forge links between the business people of the region and retain the business spirit of the conference,” he added.

Bosnia has declared tomorrow a day of national mourning for the Macedonian president.