Ohrid Court Postpones Drowned Bulgarian Tourists Trial

A Macedonian police boat tows the recovered sunken boat 'Ilinden,' into the Ohrid marina on September 19, 2009, two weeks after the tragic boath accident in Ohrid Lake when 15 Bulgarian tourists lost their lives. Photo by BGNES

The court in the Macedonian city of Ohrid has rescheduled for January 18, 2011 the first hearing on the trial for the tourist boat Ilinden, which sank in the Ohrid Lake on September 5, 2009.

15 Bulgarian tourists drowned during the accident.

The postponement of the hearing was announced because Branko Baic failed to appear in the courthouse on Tuesday.

Baic, who is a Croatian technician, was the representative of the German company Lloyd, which issued the necessary certificates ensuring the road worthiness of the Ilinden. The last certificate was issued only four months before the tragedy.

The Croatian and the captain of the vessel, Sotir Filevski, have been charged for committing a serious crime.

After the accident, Filevski was arrested immediately and was held 30 days in custody. At present, he is under house arrest.

At the time of the tragedy, there were 54 Bulgarian tourists and three crew members on board. The tourists were going on a trip to the Monastery of Saint Naum, situated south of the city of Ohrid. About 200-300 meters from the shore, the boat sinks in minutes.

According to the official documents, the vessel had the capacity for 43 people.

The versions about the cause of the sinking of the ship have to do with overloading, a torn balancing rope, incorrect distribution of the people on board, and mistakes by the captain.

The Bulgarian organizer of the ill-fated trip to Ohrid a year ago, Boryana Georgieva, has already been sentenced for carrying out business activities in violation of the Tourism Act. She was sentenced to pay a fine of BGN 4 500, and was banned from commercial activity for 2 years.

The Ilinden vessel was produced in 1924 in Regensburg, Germany, as a military boat later refashioned into a tourist ship. Its last technical check had been carried out by Lloyd in May 2009.

Bulgaria has awarded medals and citizenship to the Macedonians who took part in the rescuing of the drowning tourists, most of whom came from the town of Pirdop. 

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