Veles

A train hit a large group of about 50 migrants near the Macedonian city of Veles on Thursday, killing at least fourteen of them.

Migrants, who enter Macedonia from Greece on their way to western Europe, often use the railway as orientation through the unknown terrain, the Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) reports.

 At least 14 migrants believed to be from Afghanistan and Somalia were killed by an express train as they walked along the tracks in central Macedonia at night, police said April 24.

Macedonian police said 14 migrants were killed on Thursday night on the railway line that runs from the central Macedonian town of Veles towards the capital, Skopje.

Authorities said they fear the final death toll might be higher.

Health Minister Nikola Todorov on Tuesday said he was sorry for the death of nine-year-old Tamara Dimovska who suffered a severe spinal deformity and needed an emergency operation to save her.

After a year-long trial in a case codenamed “Phalanx”, the former head of Macedonia’s Cultural Heritage Protection Office has been found guilty of aiding a criminal ring to excavate and sell off valuable archaeological artifacts.

A train and a bus full of passengers collided at an intersection on the road between the towns of Stip and Veles as a result of which the bus capsized in the nearby ditch.

All passengers except one are in a stable condition, although several sustained serious injuries.

Days before Sunday’s early general and presidential elections in Macedonia, the opposition Social Democratic Party, the SDSM, has presented documents from the land registry that it says show the ruling party recently purchased over 20 apartments, office spaces and building lots worth some €1.6 million.