Alex Salmond ‘died while opening bottle of ketchup’

Alex Salmond at the Cultural Diplomacy Forum in North Macedonia
Alex Salmond at the Cultural Diplomacy Forum in North Macedonia before his collapse on Saturday - Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

Alex Salmond died while opening a bottle of ketchup, an eyewitness has claimed.

The former first minister of Scotland collapsed and died aged 69 on Saturday, shortly after delivering a speech at a conference in North Macedonia.

Mark Donfried, the director of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, said attendees were having lunch at the meeting in the historic lakeside city of Ohrid when Mr Salmond died.

“He came together with Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, also from the Alba Party in Scotland, and they were eating,” he told Times Radio.

“Later on, Tasmina told me she was having trouble opening the ketchup and she reached over and said: ‘Hey, can you give me a hand?’ And he was helping her with that when literally he fell back in his chair, totally out of the blue, without warning.

“Next to him was the former chief executive of the stock exchange of Cyprus, and he basically took him in his arms. He was convinced, he told me later, that immediately he was unconscious. So we don’t think Alex actually suffered any pain, thank God. He felt his heart and he couldn’t feel the heart rate then.

“Really, time stopped,” he said. “The entire hotel, the entire conference, was in shock.”

Alex Salmond had been taking part in a conference in North Macedonia
Alex Salmond had been taking part in a conference in North Macedonia - Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

A post-mortem examination on Sunday night ruled that the Alba leader died of a “massive heart attack”, Mr Donfried added. Aides said Mr Salmond had been complaining about pains in his right leg on Saturday morning.

North Macedonia’s interior ministry has confirmed that Mr Salmond died at 3.30pm local time (2.30pm BST) on Saturday.

On Monday, a statement from his family said: “Alex was a formidable politician, an amazing orator, an outstanding intellect, and admired throughout the world.

“He loved meeting people and hearing their stories, and showed incredible kindness to those who needed it. He dedicated his adult life to the cause he believed in – independence for Scotland. His vision and enthusiasm for Scotland and the Yes movement were both inspirational and contagious.

“But to us, first and foremost, he was a devoted and loving husband, a fiercely loyal brother, a proud and thoughtful uncle and a faithful and trusted friend.”

Mr Salmond was the first minister of Scotland between 2007 and 2014 and is best known for calling the 2014 referendum on leaving the UK.

He led the SNP twice, the second time from 2004 until his resignation in 2014, transforming its fortunes and turning it from a fringe movement into the dominant force in Scottish politics.

He later split with the party over the Scottish Government’s handling of sexual impropriety allegations against him and formed Alba, a new pro-independence movement.