Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

15 drown as Macedonia boat sinks

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-05 20:29

SKOPJE: At least 15 people, among them an unknown number of Bulgarians, drowned on Saturday when a boat carrying more than 60 tourists sank on a Macedonia's Lake Ohrid, officials said.

Related readings:  8 missing after fishing boat sinks in China  Overloaded boat sinks off Florida, killing 10  Nine missing as boat sinks in SW China  Nepal boat sinks, 45 missing  12 Indonesians dead as boat sinks

"We received a call that a boat was sinking and immediately dispatched emergency services to Ohrid," a police official told Reuters. "The rescue operation is underway."

"We confirmed there were Bulgarian tourists among the dead," a senior government official told Reuters, but said the number was still uncertain. "There were many Bulgarian tourists on the boat and probably some Serbs."

Lake Ohrid is Macedonia's best known tourist resort.

The prime ministers of Macedonia and Bulgaria have spoken by telephone and Bulgaria is to send a plane to transfer the dead, the government official said.