Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has been killed in a plane crash in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Macedonian officials say Mr. Trajkovski was killed Thursday when his plane went down near the Bosnian city of Stolac. Details of the crash are unclear, but bad weather was reported in the area.
Bosnian police said they found the plane's wreckage about 80 kilometers south of Sarajevo.
President Trajkovski was on his way to attend a two-day economic conference in the Bosnian city of Mostar. The French news agency reports Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski cut short a trip to Ireland and was on his way back to Skopje.
Mr. Trajkovski, an ordained Methodist minister who studied theology in the United States, was elected Macedonia's president in late 1999. He was praised for taking a neutral stance in a country where tensions persist between Macedonians and minority ethnic Albanians. He was a frequent advocate of including ethnic Albanians in Macedonian government.
Before becoming prime minister, Mr. Trajkovski served as Macedonia's deputy foreign minister.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.