Macedonian president dies in plane crash

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3488620.stm
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Macedonia leader’s plane crashes

Trajkovski has been Macedonian president since 1999
A plane carrying Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has crashed into mountains in Bosnia-Hercegovina, officials say.
The small plane vanished on Thursday near the southern city of Stolac with nine people on board.

Government officials in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, said the plane had crashed. An advisor quoted by AFP news agency said the president was dead. One unconfirmed report said crash wreckage had been found. Other sources said a search was continuing.

“The president was in the plane with several staff members. We have no word on survivors. A chopper is on its way,” a government source told Reuters news agency.

A spokesman for US peacekeepers in Bosnia said the plane lost contact with air-traffic controllers near the border between Bosnia and Montenegro. Stolac is in a mountainous region of southern Bosnia, east of the Croatian port of Dubrovnik.

Mostar conference

The plane took off from the Macedonian capital, Skopje, earlier on Thursday. Mr Trajkovski and a group of advisers were on their way to an investment conference in Mostar. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said he had been told the president was dead. Mr Ahern’s comments came after he had been due to meet the Macedonian prime minister in Dublin. The meeting was cancelled after news of the crash emerged.
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The plane is very likely Learjet 25B Z3-BAA, ex YU-BKJ, c/n25B-0205.