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15 dead as boat sinks in Macedonia lake
2009-09-05
OHRID, Macedonia (AFP) - An ageing tourist boat sank suddenly in Macedonia's popular Lake Ohrid on Saturday, killing 15 Bulgarians as survivors clung to wooden planks and buoys, officials said. The Iliden was 200 metres (220 yards) from shore when it apparently capsized into the deepest lake in the region -- famous for its turquoise waters -- at around 11:00 am (0900 GMT) near a campground outside Ohrid city. "More than 70 passengers were on the boat," Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska told reporters. "Fifteen perished, four seriously injured were taken to hospital in Ohrid and about 50 survivors are at a local hotel." The captain of the Iliden was among the dead, Jankulovska said. Survivors recounted their horrifying ordeal. "The boat swerved sharply and capsized. It started to sink instantly and everybody tried to save their lives the way they could," a survivor identified as Ivan told Bulgarian national radio. "They grabbed wooden planks and life buoys, but there were not enough buoys and not enough life saving jackets for everybody," he said. He said he held on to a wooden plank while his wife and three other women stayed afloat with a buoy until a nearby boat rescued them. "People died in convulsions before my eyes. It was a nightmare!" a middle-aged woman told bTV television. Another woman, a medical doctor, said: "I cannot swim. When I sunk in the water, my only thought was how the tourist guide had told us that it was 200 metres deep." Officials in Sofia confirmed that the 15 victims were Bulgarian. A total of 55 Bulgarian citizens were onboard the Ilinden when it sunk and 38 survivors returned home on board a government plane. Built in Germany in 1924, the Iliden with a capacity of 53 passengers was in good condition, with an operating permit, and insured with Lloyd's of London through 2010, said Macedonia's Transport Minister Mile Janakievski, who later tendered his resignation for "ethical reasons". Bulgarian officials blamed overcrowding as the likely cause of the disaster. The government has declared a national day of mourning for Monday. The football World Cup qualifier between Bulgaria and Montenegro Saturday began with a minute of silence for the victims. Gerard Buittat, a Frenchman who trains police officers in Kosovo under a European Union programme and was paying a visit to the region, told AFP he saw the boat go down in less than a minute. Whilst driving from Ohrid towards the Albanian border, he said, "I saw a boat filled with tourists which, for some unexplained reason, veered like an outboard motor boat to the right and then immediately fell onto its side." "I got out my camera and took a photo of the boat when it was still on its side," Buittat said. "In the time it took for me to get out of my car, in the space of 30 seconds, it sank." People at a campground 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) south of Ohrid used small boats to go out onto the lake and pluck survivors to safety, witnesses said. The emergency services came soon after to join them. "We heard people crying 'help' everywhere, bodies were floating all around us," said Gjorgji Kostovski, 24, one of the campers. Aleksandar Mojsovski, 28, said most of the victims were elderly. "Not all the people died from drowning, some of them panicked, were in shock, most of them were elderly people," he said. Macedonian President George Ivanov, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the interior, transport, defence and health ministers all dashed to the scene, ahead of an emergency meeting of the government in the evening. Tens of thousands of people visit Lake Ohrid -- about 200 kilometres southwest of the capital Skopje -- every year, making it one of the most popular attractions in the Balkans. The area is a UNESCO-declared World Heritage Site, with Ohrid city -- home to the world's oldest Slav monastery and a priceless collection of icons -- among the oldest human settlements in Europe.
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