President of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, was killed on the morning of February 26, when his aircraft crashed into a Bosnian mountainside in thick fog. The crash also claimed the lives of the eight others onboard.

At the time of the accident, the 47-year-old was on a short flight to the southern Bosnian town of Mostar for an economic conference.

Bad weather and land mines in the area – once a violent war zone – initially restricted efforts to locate the wreckage of the aircraft.

On February 27, remains of the US-made Beechcraft Super King

Air 200, twin-engine, nine-seater turboprop, were found on the heavily mined Rotimlja hill near the village of Hodovo, 20 kilometres south of Mostar. The government flight from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, had been carrying Trajkovski, two crewmen and six presidential aides.

It is reported that six of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and according to Bosnia’s security minister Barisa Colak, some of the bodies were inside the wreck and some were trapped under the aircraft. Initial findings showed that everyone onboard had died instantly upon impact.

Macedonia declared three days of official mourning and flags were flown at half mast throughout the country. People lit candles and laid flowers in front of Trajkovski’s office.

Director of the Bosnian civil aviation authority Dzelal Hasecic said that before the crash, the aircraft was “at a much lower altitude than it was supposed to be at.”

The tragedy was at first attributed to aircraft failure, but Macedonian officials then said there were indications that other factors were involved. Speaking from Skojpe on the day after the crash, defence minister Vlado Buckovski said that the government had “indications

that show the plane was not the reason for the accident.” No further details were given.

Bosnian police recovered devices containing flight data and cockpit recordings of conversations between the pilots and flight control. They will now attempt to ascertain exactly why and how the Beechcraft came down.