Rescuers are still looking for the three members of a family from Kosovo who fell into the swollen Lepenec river north of Skopje yesterday.

The incident was caused by a driver who was overtaking a column of vehicles headed to Skopje from the Blace border crossing with Kosovo. At one point he hit the Kosovan BMW he was overtaking and the BMW fell into the river.

One of the passengers, a 21 year old man, was able to swim to safety. But his mother (48), father (60) and younger brother (16) remained in the vehicle. Rivers across Macedonia are at exceptionally high levels after days of strong rain. The driver who caused the accident has been arrested. He is a 64 year old man from Skopje.