History Of Macedonia – Tragedy in the Ohrid lake of FYROM – At least 15 Bulgarian citizens killed!!

Tragedy in the Ohrid lake of FYROM – At least 15 Bulgarian citizens killed!!

in FYROM news / by Admin / on September 6, 2009 at 1:37 am /

Ohrid. Sunday is a day of national mourning in FYROM for the Ohrid Lake tragedy, which killed 15 Bulgarian citizens.
On Saturday at around 10:20 a.m. local time the Ilinden ship sank some 200 meters from the shore, at a depth of 7-8 meters. 50 people were rescued, five were injured and admitted to a hospital and three people are missing.
The initial version for the reason for the accident is overcrowding – the vessel had 57 people on board and it was certified for 45 persons.

FYROM’s Interior Ministry has pressed a charge against 23-year-old Sotir Fileski, who owns and was steering the Ilinden ship at the time of the accident in Ohrid Lake, “Macedonian” In press told FOCUS News Agency.

The ministry pressed a charge also against Fileski’s assistant Vladko Justiniatnoski for participating in serious crimes against human safety.
Speaking with the police, the young skipper Fileski said that he had heard a loud crack at the rear of the ship and then he had lost control over the vessel. He suggested that a rope close to the stern could have broken, causing the ship to tip to the right and fill up with water.

At the same time, the Bulgarian Yordanka Dimitrova, one of survivors from the sunken Ilinden ship, said the accident occurred very quickly and the ship sank for a second, FYROM’s A1 television reports.
“There were many people. Young women and elderly persons. There were no children. I was at the rear of the ship and after the vessel overturned, it sank for a second,” said Dimitrova. She added there were only two life jackets aboard the ship.

Source: Focus News Agency