Macedonia Authorities Close Investigation into Killer Boat 'Ilinden'

On September 5, the Macedonian tour boat “Ilinden” sunk into the waters of Lake Ohrid killing 15 Bulgarian tourists on board. Photo by BGNES

Macedonian authorities have closed the investigation into the sinking of the Macedonian tourist boat ‘Ilinden’, which killed 15 Bulgarian tourists on Lake Ohrid in September 2009.

“I have received all of the results of the investigation (500 pages of documentation), but have not yet had the time to study them fully. Whatever we say at the moment will only be in the sphere of speculation,” the Chair of the Ohrid Court Vlado Deyanovski said Thursday. The judge for the case has also received the full information but refused to comment further.

French and Croatian ship engineers conducted the last tests of the load capacity of the ill-fated “Ilinden” in December. 54 tourists were on board when the boat sunk, 11 people more than the official load capacity.

The fate of the “Ilinden” captain and owner, Sotir Filevski, also depends on the outcome of the investigation, which will be crucial in Macedonian authorities’ deciding if Filevski will be the only person charged in the case.

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