Body of Scottish independence champion Alex Salmond soon to be flown home from North Macedonia

SKOPJE, North Macedonia -- The body of Alex Salmond, Scotland's former First Minister who died during a conference in North Macedonia, will soon be returned to Scotland by special flight, an official said Monday.

Salmond, who as leader of the Scottish National Party took Scotland up to the brink of independence in a 2014 referendum, died suddenly Saturday at the lake resort of Ohrid aged 69.

He had been a panelist at a forum and collapsed during a lunch event after apparently suffering a massive heart attack.

Boris Josifovski, an aide to North Macedonia’s former president Gjorge Ivanov, who organized the forum, said Monday that procedures for the body's repatriation "are almost done.”

“All legal procedures and paperwork are nearly finished,” Josifovski told The Associated Press. “There will be a special flight in the next few days, probably from Ohrid,” to take Salmond's body to Scotland.

The official coroner's report on the precise causes of Salmond's death will be delivered to his family, North Macedonia's judiciary said.

Salmond, who took the SNP to power from the fringes of Scottish politics, served as first minister from 2007 to 2014. In the referendum Scots ultimately rejected independence, with 55% voting against and 45% in favor.

Salmond subsequently resigned and was replaced by his long-time ally, Nicola Sturgeon. Their subsequent split dominated Scottish politics for years.