2009 Lake Ohrid boat accident

On 5 September 2009, the Ilinden sightseeing boat with a group of 57 foreign tourists on board, of which 55 were Bulgarian, sank in Lake Ohrid, southwestern Republic of Macedonia.

The boat is said to have sunk around 11:00 AM local time,[1] in the vicinity of the Elešec camping site.

[5][7] A minute of silence was observed before Macedonia and Bulgaria's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers later on 5 September and against Scotland and Montenegro.

A nongovernmental organization, the Bulgarian Cultural Club – Skopje proposed to Mayor Aleksandar Petreski of Ohrid the erection of a monument commemorating both the victims of the accident and those whose help saved many lives.

[10][11][12] In November 2020, a monument in Ohrid to the Bulgarian tourists that died on the ship Ilinden was vandalized and destroyed.