Brussels (B2B) - Duta Besar Serbia untuk NATO Branislav Milinkovic bunuh diri dengan terjun dari satu tempat parkir mobil bertingkat di bandara Brussels, Selasa, kata media lokal.
Kementerian Luar Negeri Serbia dalam satu pernyataan, Rabu, mengatakan bahwa Milinkovic "meninggal secara tragis" di ibu kota Belgia, Brussels, tetapi tidak menjelaskan lebih jauh.
NATO menyampaikan penyesalannya atas kematian itu.
Sekjen NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen "sangat sedih atas kematian yang tragis dubes Serbia itu. Milkovich adalah seorang utusan negaranya yang sangat dihormati dan kami kehilangan", kata seorang juru bicara aliansi itu.
Milinkovic "melakukan bunuh diri dengan terjun dari tempat parkir bertingkat di bandara internasional Brussels saat wakil menlu Serbia Zoran Vujic berada di bandara itu," kata surat kabar Blic Serbia di lamannya, dengan mengutip sumber-sumber diplomatik.
Surat kabar itu tidak memberikan alasan bagi bunuh diri itu.
Satu sumber diplomatik di Brussels mengatakan Milinkovic pergi ke gedung parkir yang digunakan untuk para pejabat penting untuk menemui seorang pejabat senior, Selasa.
Ketika delegasi itu tiba, ia tampak menjauhkan diri dari mereka dan kemudian terjun dari tembok parkir mobil, kata sumber itu.
Para wartawan Serbia mengatakan Milinkovic terlihat normal pada hari itu, berbicara dengan mereka ketika mereka meliput satu pertemuan para menlu NATO.
Juru bicara bandara Brussels Jan Vad der Cruysse mengonfirmasikan seorang pria terjun dari tempat parkir mobil dan bagian penyelamatan tidak dapat menyelamatkan nyawanya.
Serbia bukan anggota penuh aliansi militer NATO tetapi anggota program "Kemitraan bagi Perdamaian" bagi satu kerja sama luas mengena masalah-masalah pertahanan dan keamanan.
Milinkovic, diplomat kawakan berusia 52 tahun, adalah duta besar intuk Organisasi Keamanan dan Kerja Sama di Eropa sebelum diangkat menjadi dubes Serbia untuk NATO tahun 2010.
Pasukan NATO membantu memelihara perdamaian antara Kosovo dan Serbia yang menolak mengakui deklarasi kemerdekaan Kosovo tahun 2008.
Brussels - Serbia's ambassador to NATO committed suicide by jumping from a multi-storey car park at Brussels airport on Tuesday, local media reported.
Serbia's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday that Branislav Milinkovic had "died tragically" in the Belgian capital but gave no further details.
NATO expressed regret at the news.
NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen "is deeply saddened by the tragic death of the Serbian ambassador. Mr Milinkovich was a highly respected representative of his country and will be missed," an alliance spokeswoman said.
Milinkovic "committed suicide by jumping from a multistorey car park at the international airport in Brussels in the presence of Serbian deputy foreign minister Zoran Vujic," Serbia's Blic newspaper reported on its website, quoting diplomatic sources.
It gave no motive for the apparent suicide.
A diplomatic source in Brussels said Milinkovich had gone to the car park used for VIPs to meet a senior Serb official on Tuesday.
As the delegation arrived, he apparently moved away from them and then jumped over the car park wall, the source said.
Serb journalists said Milinkovich had appeared normal during the day, talking and chatting with them as they covered a NATO foreign ministers meeting.
Brussels airport spokesman Jan Vad der Cruysse confirmed that a man had jumped from the car park and that rescue services had been unable to save his life.
Serbia is not a full member of the NATO military alliance but belongs to its "Partnership for Peace" programme which provides for a range of cooperation on defence and security issues.
Milinkovic, 52-year-old career diplomat, was ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe before being appointed Serbia's NATO envoy in 2010.
NATO forces help to keep the peace between Kosovo and Serbia which refuses to recognise Pristina's 2008 declaration of independence.