President of Macedonia killed in plane crash

MACEDONIA'S president, a moderate credited with helping to unite his ethnically-divided country, was killed yesterday when his plane crashed in bad weather in mountainous southern Bosnia.

Boris Trajkovski was en route to an international investment conference in the western Bosnian city of Mostar, when his plane carrying six other officials and two pilots went down near the village of Bitonja, in mountainous southern Bosnia, shortly after 8am. There were no survivors.

Bosnian police said they found wreckage of the US-made Beechcraft Super King Air 200 twin-engine turboprop near the village about 50 miles south of the capital, Sarajevo.