Today is the fourth anniversary of the helicopter accident near Fojnica, which took the lives of 12 members of the international peace mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Five members of the Office of the High Representative and seven members of the UN mission in BiH were killed when the helicopter in which they were traveling crashed into a mountainside in thick fog.

Shortly after eleven o’clock this morning, flowers were laid at the crash site, and representatives of the international community and the BiH authorities participated in a memorial ceremony. The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Jacques Klein, and diplomatic representatives of the US and Germany delivered eulogies. They were joined by Mr Karlo Filipovic, President of the Federation of BiH, Mr. Svetozar Mihajlovic, BiH Minister for Civil Affairs and Communications, Mr Muhamed Besic, Federation Interior Minister, Mr Vincent Coeurderoy, Commissioner of the IPTF, and other diplomats and dignitaries.

At 11.15 the participants observed two minutes of silence.

The twelve who died four years ago were Peter Backes, Livio Beccaccio, Andrzej Buler, David Kriskovich, Leah Melnick, Charles Morpeth, William Nesbitt, Marvin Padgett, Thomas Reinhardt, Jurgen Schauf, Georg Stiebler and Gerd Wagner.

They made the ultimate sacrifice for peace. We honour their memory.