A human skull found near Labunište, close to the Albanian border: is someone still waiting for news?

A human skull and other objects, found in the area of the village of Labunište, near Podgorec Lake, in the immediate vicinity of the Macedonian-Albanian border. The discovery was made on 25 July by officers of the border surveillance police station in Labunište, while carrying out official duties.

The interior ministry says only that measures are being taken, in cooperation with other competent institutions, to fully clarify the case. No other detail - not the approximate age of the remains, not whether there are any indications of a violent death, not how long they might have been at that spot.

The location is what gives this story a different weight. This is not some random meadow. It is a border area facing Albania, in a region through which people who prefer not to use an official crossing have been moving for decades - migrants, smugglers, individuals running from something.

That is why the ministry is right not to speculate. A skull found in a border zone could be the remains of a criminal case from ten years ago, it could be someone who got lost in the mountains, or it could be a person who tried to cross the border on foot and did not make it.

The answer will come from the autopsy and, if possible, DNA analysis. That is a process that often takes a long time here and does not always end in identification. The question that raises itself is whether, behind those remains, somebody somewhere is still waiting for news about a missing person.