Negotino, 14 August 2023 (MIA) — A 77-year-old pensioner from Negotino was struck and killed in an traffic accident on the highway to Skopje, when a bus of pensioners stopped for a break on their way to a pensioners' protest in the capital.

Negotino pensioners' protest initiative board member Kata Apostolova said everyone on the bus was shocked and distraught afrer the tragic incident.

"Unfortunately, it is true, yes," Apostolova said. "On our way to Skopje, some of us asked for a toilet break. We stopped at a large parking lot in front of Katlanovo. Why and how, maybe as a mistake, an oversight, instead of turning right like everyone else, he turned left and was hit by a vehicle on the highway.

"An ambulance, the police, a prosecutor came. He was declared dead at the scene. He was taken away by an undertaker, and the rest of us are going back home," she said.

Riste Samardzhiev, Veles police spokesperson, confirmed for MIA that there had been a fatal accident.

According to an official police report, around 9:50 a.m. the Veles police received a call that on the Veles – Skopje highway, near the Macedonia winter checkpoint, a Volkswagen Golf with Romanian licence plates driven by Romanian national D.S.C. (41) struck a pedestrian identified by the initials D.S. (77) from Negotino. mr/