Today, in front of the Joint Operations Command and the Air WING of the ARM at the “Strasho Pindjur” barracks in Petrovec and the location of the helicopter accident at Katlanovsko Blace, high delegations from the Ministry of Defence and General Staff of the ARM, as well as members from the families laid a wreath on the memorial of the 11 members of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia who lost their lives during their return from the ALTHEA mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The ceremony in the memory of the fallen peacekeepers in the tragic helicopter accident, apart from the families, was attended by the Minister of Defence Zoran Konjanovski, the Chief of GS of the ARM, Lieutenant General Miroslav Stjanovski, the Commander of the Joint Operations Command, Major General Zoran Dimov, as well as the mayor of the municipality of Petrovec.

- We came to devote fitting respect to the heroes, our peacekeepers who were on a mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they came to the fatherland, returned in the Republic of Macedonia, but never passed over the doorstep of their homes, stated Minister Konjanovski. He mentioned that the MOD and ARM will continue to do what is in their power for the truth to come out and to find the reasons for the helicopter accident. Konjanovski underlined that they will continue with the aid for the families of the fallen Macedonian peacekeepers and in that direction they will pursue to build a monument in the centre of Skopje despite the already existing in the grounds of the MOD.

The Macedonian peacekeepers who were returning home after a six-month mission in ALTHEA, on this day two years ago flew with the helicopter at about 09:30 hours from the Butmir Base in Sarajevo. They were supposed to land on the military part of the Skopje Airport, and the final contact with the watchtower was made six miles from the airport.

The families of the fallen peacekeepers after two years are still asking for the reasons of the accident. They requested foreign experts to lead the investigation, blaming on a series of oversights made by the domestic investigation organs.

Regarding the investigation of the reasons for the accident, the Government formed a special Commission which was chaired by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Zoran Petrov, and was composed of Jordan Razmoski, a Chief in the Ministry of Interior and Nikola Prokopenko from the Ministry of Justice. The Commission was supposed to in the shortest possible time frame to submit a detailed and final report to the Government. The State Commission in the report stated five reasons that led to the accident – adverse weather conditions, breach of procedures, defect in the instruments of the helicopter, faults in the training of the pilots for instrumental flying and indiscipline of the crew. The prosecution last year estimated that the report of the State Commission was problematic and that is why it requested foreign expertise.

The State Protocol and the ARM were obliged to undertake all necessary measures for taking care of the families and for the organization of the funeral with all military honours. Apart from the insurance and the 12 salaries that they will receive in accordance with law, the Government decided to award to the families a redundancy financial aid in the amount of 24 average salaries.

In the helicopter accident at Katlanovo Lt Col Toni Spasovski, Major Goran Ristovski, Captains Brane Spasovski and Igor Gjoreski, Master Sergeants Slavcho Vasilev and Toni Davtikovski, Staff Sergeants Janko Shiric, Miki Ivanovski, Aleksandar Taskovski and Aleksandar Vasic and Corporal Zlatko Veljanovski lost their lives.

The helicopter “Mi-17”, which the 11 peacekeepers left on their final fight, is of Russian production, intended for transport of persons and load, for air raids and for fire support. It has a three member crew – two pilots and an aeromechanic. It can transport 32 passengers or a load up to four tons. It may possess various technical equipment and to be armed with rocket launchers, bombs and machineguns. Mi-17 and its older version Mi-8 are used as military, but also civilian needs in more than 50 countries in the world.