A pop star with a huge following in the Balkans, Tose Proeski, has died in a car crash in Croatia. Police say the singer died when his car collided with a lorry on a motorway near the eastern Croatian town of Nova Gradiska.
Proeski was a big star in his home country of Macedonia, who he represented in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004. Fans gathered in the streets of capital Skopje yesterday after hearing the news, radio stations played his songs back to back, and today has been declared a day of national mourning.
To give you an idea of Proeski's profile in the country, Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski led the tributes to the pop star, telling reporters: "We all have been blessed with such a great singer and with his immense soul filled with love", while the head of the country's Orthodox Church, Archbishop Stefan, said "Macedonia and the Balkans lost an angel".