| The Macedonian Prime Minister almost followed the President Yesterday it became known that last Sunday Macedonia almost suffered a new loss. The country's Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski was returning from the Bosnian Mostar, where he was finding out the reasons for the death of President Boris Trajkovski. On the way, his plane was struck by lightning, after which the car deviated from its course by almost half a kilometer. This happened just above the very place where Trajkovsky’s plane crashed last week. The crew of the plane provided by the Serbian authorities, not wanting to disturb the prime minister, informed him about the incident only upon returning to the Macedonian capital Skopje.
The causes of the plane crash that led to the death of President Trajkovski are still unclear. The version of the terrorist attack, which could easily destabilize the region heated by ethnic confrontation, has already been dismissed. Experts doubt both pilot error and equipment failure. There were experienced pilots at the helm of the presidential plane; the American-made light twin-engine aircraft Beach B200 also did not cause any particular complaints and underwent the necessary pre-flight training. A shadow of suspicion fell on French air traffic controllers from the international Stabilization Force in Bosnia (SFOR). But the SFOR command denied statements by Bosnian investigators that the air traffic service radar allegedly broke down three days before the crash, and the controllers flying Trajkovskiy’s plane were recalled to France.
Now the causes of the disaster are attributed to atmospheric anomalies and a “black spot” on the approach to Mostar. They even remembered the death of American Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, who crashed over the Balkans on April 3, 1996. Then the crew of the US Air Force Boeing 737 used the wrong approach procedure. In bad weather conditions, the plane veered off course and, while trying to land, hit a hill 16 km southeast of Dubrovnik. Then, along with Ron Brown, 34 more people died.
The recent incident with Crvenkovski is another evidence in favor of the “treachery” of Balkan nature. This version, convenient for everyone, can only be refuted by decoding the data from the flight recorders sent to Germany. Katerina LABETSKAYA |
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