Skopje, Macedonia ? Long-divided Macedonians and ethnic Albanians united Friday in mourning President Boris Trajkovski, who was killed in a plane crash, as searchers cleared a path through mine-strewn Bosnian mountains to recover his body.

Police in a helicopter found the wreckage of Trajkovski’s plane more than 24 hours after it crashed Thursday in heavy fog, said Capt. Dave Sullivan of Bosnia’s NATO-led peacekeeping force. Pieces of the plane were strewn over a 200-yard area near the village of Huskovici, about 50 miles south of Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo.

Trajkovski was en route to an international investment conference in Bosnia when his small plane crashed Thursday in a remote, mountainous region still sown with mines from Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

Explosives experts cleared a path to the wreckage, and the bodies of Trajkovski, six other Macedonian officials and the two pilots were recovered Friday and sent to a morgue, officials said. The bodies will be identified before being returned to Macedonia.

Macedonian prosecutor Roksanda Krstevska told Bosnian state radio that searchers found the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, which could provide clues to the cause of the crash.

Flags flew at half-staff, and Macedonia began three days of mourning as Macedonians and ethnic Albanians vowed to maintain Trajkovski’s efforts to quell tensions in the volatile Balkan country.

The death of Trajkovski, a 47-year-old moderate, comes at a critical time for a nation still tense after its mostly Muslim ethnic Albanian minority took up arms in 2001 in a fight for greater rights.

“His death has brought us all closer together,” said Afrodita Halili, 23, an ethnic Albanian. “I hope we find the strength to remain together.”

World leaders expressed hope the country would not lapse into instability.

President Bush called Trajkovski “a distinguished leader and a great friend of the United States” who “showed extraordinary courage in leading his country from the brink of civil conflict to peace.”

A photo of the late Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is seen in front of the parliament building in Skopje. Trajkovski was killed when his plane crashed Thursday in southern Bosnia.