A monument of the 15 Bulgarian tourists who drowned in Lake Ohrid on September 5, 2009, will be unveiled by the end of this month.

The monument is an initiative of the rotary clubs in Ohrid and the Bulgarian town of Pirdop, which is the hometown of most of the Bulgarians who perished after the Ilinden tourist boat sank in the Macedonian lake. 

Dozens of Bulgarians are expected to travel to Ohrid on September 5 for a remembrance of those who died there a year earlier.

According to the Bulgarian prosecutor in charge of the investigation of the Ilinden boat incident, Bozhidar Dzhambazov, the Macedonian side still has not provided Bulgaria with the documents about the autopsies of the drowned tourists.

He explained that he had requested from the Macedonian authorities not just the autopsy protocols but also the paperwork about the examination of the sunken vessel and the testimonies of the witnesses but Macedonia has met only a couple of all demands.

The prosecutor says that if the Bulgarian authorities get all documentation they will be able to charge the Macedonian captain of the Ilinden ship, Sotir Filevski.

The Bulgarian organizer of the ill-fated trip of 50 tourists to Ohrid a year ago, Boryana Georgieva, has already been sentenced for carrying out business activities in violation of the Tourism Act. She was sentenced to pay a fine of BGN 4 500, and was banned from commercial activity for 2 years.

The Macedonian authorities are still investigating the boat captain, 23-year-old Sotir Filevski. He is believed to have caused the sinking of the ship by allowing the boarding of 56 people even though the vessel was not suited to carry more than 43 people.

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