Monday marks 21 years since twelve officials from the UN and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia lost their lives in a helicopter crash during service, helping Bosnia implement the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war.

“They died in the service of peace, while working to reconstruct Bosnia and Herzegovina and to secure the lasting stability and reintegration of the country. They will never be forgotten in our hearts and minds,” said High Representative Valentin Inzko, who is currently monitoring the implementation of the Dayton Agreement.

The tragedy took place on September 17, 1997, and claimed the lives of five members of the OHR, six members of the UNMIBH (United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and a political and legal advisor to the then-High Representative Christian Schwarz Schilling.  

When the accident happened, Leah Melnick, Charles Morpeth, Thomas Reinhardt, Jurgen Schauf and Gerd Wagner from the OHR, Livio Beccaccio, Andrzej Buler, David Kriskovich, William Nesbitt, Marvin Padgett, Georg Stiebler from UNMIBH, and High Representative advisor Peter Backes were on their way to meet with local authorities in northern and central Bosnia.  

The Helicopter crashed near the town of Fojnica, central Bosnia, due to thick fog.

“We pay respect to them today by reiterating the international community’s strong and unequivocal commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a peaceful and sovereign state irreversibly on course for European integration”, Inzko said.