The High Representative tasked with overseeing the civilian implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia, Christian Schmidt, marked on Thursday 24 years since the helicopter crash at the Prokosko Lake, in which 12 OHR (Office of the High Representative) staff members and UN colleagues lost their lives.

“We remain eternally grateful and will continue to honor the memories of our beloved colleagues who died in the service of peace, while working to reconstruct Bosnia and Herzegovina: Peter Backes, Livio Beccaccio, Andrzej Buler, David Kriskovich, Leah Melnick, Charles Morpeth, William Nesbitt, Marvin Padgett, Thomas Reinhardt, Jurgen Schauf, Georg Stiebler and Ambassador Gerd Wagner. We pay our respects to them today by reaffirming the international community’s strong commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina” said the High Representative.

On 17 September 1997, twelve passengers died when their helicopter crashed at Prokosko Lake in dense fog. Among them were five members of the OHR and seven members of the United Nations Mission. The officials were on their way to Bugojno to meet with local authorities and discuss key issues related to the implementation of the Peace Agreement.