- Title: MACEDONIA: PRESIDENT'S BODY RETRUNS AFTER FATAL AIRCRASH.
- Date: 4th March 2004
- Summary: (EU) SKOPJE, MACEDONIA (MARCH 3, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV: U.S. ARMY C-130 MILITARY PLANE WITH THE REMAINS OF THE LATE MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT BORIS TRAJKOVSKI APPROACHING THE AIRPORT IN SKOPJE 0.06 2. LV: PLANE STOPPING ON RUNWAY 0.12 3. GV/LV: COFFIN WITH BODY OF TRAJKOVSKI BEING CARRIED OUT OF THE PLANE; PERSONAL BODYGUARDS OF THE LATE PRESIDENT CARRYING THE COFFIN; MACEDONIAN ARMY MEMBERS SALUTING (4 SHOTS) 0.47 4. MV: MOTHER, FATHER, DAUGHTER, WIFE AND SON OF THE LATE PRESIDENT 0.53 5. GV/CU/GV/PAN: GUARD OF HONOUR; CLOSE-UP OF MACEDONIAN FLAG; CLOSE-UP OF MACEDONIAN SOLDIER SALUTING (4 SHOTS) 1.31 6. GV: DISTRAUGHT PRESIDENT'S FAMILY WATCHING THE COFFIN BEING CARRIED 1.44 7. MCU: CLOSE-UP ON THE WIFE AND DAUGHTER OF THE LATE PRESIDENT, CRYING 1.52 8. CU; CLOSE-UP ON THE HANDS OF THE WIFE AND DAUGHTER 1.57 9. GV/LV: COFFIN BEING PLACED IN CAR; CAR LEAVING (4 SHOTS) 2.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th March 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SKOPJE, MACEDONIA
- Country: Macedonia
- Reuters ID: LVA2OG9OQ5ENB277YRZAGZEV9EB0
- Story Text: President Trajkovski's body returned to Macedonia
after fatal aircrash last week, the cause of which is still unknown.
Macedonia received the remains on Wednesday (March
3) of late president Boris Trajkovski, killed in a plane
crash in Bosnia last week and hailed by world leaders as a
man of peace and vision.
His coffin, draped in the red-and-yellow flag depicting
a radiant sun, was carried from a U.S. C-130 transport
plane. Alongside were the coffins of eight others killed in
the crash near Mostar.
Trajkovski's wife, Vilma and his children, Sara and
Stefan, stood with state leaders including Prime Minister
Branko Crvenkovski attending the solemn ceremony at Skopje
airport. People also gathered to bid farewell to the 47-year-old
president in front of the parliament building in downtown
Skopje where Trajkovski's remains were to lie in state
before a funeral on Friday.
Official mourners are expected to include senior delegations
from the European Union, NATO and the United States, all of
whom praised Trajkovski as a courageous leader whose
moderating voice helped avert a bloodbath between Albanians
and Macedonians.
A Methodist preacher and lawyer, Trajkovski made his
name during the 2001 conflict with ethnic Albanian rebels
which brought Macedonia close to civil war. With NATO and
EU help, he oversaw a peace deal that has held up.
The country has been in mourning since the crash, with
flags at half mast. Investigators have yet to establish the
cause of the accident, which occurred in poor weather in
southewestern Bosnia.
Commenting on allegations in Balkan media, France on
Tuesday played down speculation that its NATO air
controllers in charge of Mostar air traffic might have been
to blame. NATO also dismissed suggestions that the airport
was unsafe.
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