Alex Salmond 'died while opening a bottle of ketchup' eyewitnesses say

Former First Minister Alex Salmond 'died while opening a bottle of ketchup', an eyewitness has claimed. 

Scotland's first minister from 2007 until 2014 and founder of the Alba Party, died suddenly in North Macedonia on Saturday, aged 69.

He had made a speech at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Forum in the city of Ohrid before collapsing in the crowded room after suffering a heart attack.

Mark Donfried, the director of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, said attendees were having lunch 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.

Tasmina was allegedly having trouble opening a ketchup bottle when she asked Mr Salmond for a hand. As he was helping her, 'he fell back on his chair, totally out of the blue', Mr Donfried said. 

A post-mortem examination on Sunday ruled that the former first minister of Scotland suffered a 'massive heart attack'. Aides reported Mr Salmond had been complaining about pains in his right leg on Saturday morning.  

Mr Donfried said 'time stopped' when the incident happened and paramedics attempted to resuscitate for 30 minutes before Mr Salmond was pronounced dead.

'The entire hotel, the entire conference, was in shock,' Mr Donfried added. 

Tributes have poured in since his death at the weekend with First Minister John Swinney saying he 'inspired a generation' to believe in independence.

Confirmation of the cause of death comes after pals opened up about Mr Salmond's 'health struggles', saying legal battles against the Scottish government took a huge toll.

Conservative MP David Davis, who was a close friend of the late politician, said the 'treatment of Alex Salmond' had 'put a huge pall over the last several years of this great man's life'.

This comes as Mr Salmond had been battling for years to ensure former colleagues were held accountable for the botched probe into sexual harassment complaints against him.

Mr Davis said he is campaigning for MSPs to be given parliamentary privilege so they can more effectively scrutinise and investigate the actions of the Scottish Government, including in relation to outstanding questions about the probe into Mr Salmond's conduct.

Speaking yesterday, he added: 'What I'm trying to do, in parallel to whatever Alex's estate choose to do, is to open up this whole issue, give those powers to the Scottish Parliament, the powers of privilege - that is protection against prosecution or lawsuit, the right to summon people to give information and provide witness - and I want to see a separation of the powers of State and judiciary, which is true in the rest of the UK but not in Scotland so the prosecutors are as it were part of the State, and I want to see a duty of candour on the Government.

'Now, I had a debate on this just two or three months ago and, in essence, the new Labour Government have agreed to do it and it is a question of how I ensure this happens quickly really, so that we can get proper answers in what really happened in the treatment of Alex Salmond, which frankly put a huge pall over the last several years of this great man's life and, who knows, it might even have accelerated his death - I don't know, I can't comment on that.

'So I want to see this exposed, opened up so that the Scottish Government is forced to answer the questions it ought to answer on this matter.'

Mr Salmond lodged a petition at the Court of Session last November for malfeasance - the wrongful exercise of lawful authority - by Scottish Government civil servants during the investigation into harassment complaints.

When he lodged the petition, he said that no single person had been 'held accountable' for the botched Scottish Government probe into the complaints, which was found to have been unlawful and tainted by apparent bias.

He was reportedly seeking £3 million in damages and loss of earnings from the case.

Mr MacAskill yesterday said he believed the case was 'likely' to be continued by Mr Salmond's family.

He told BBC Good Morning Scotland: 'It's a matter for the family to decide.

'My own position is that I will respect whatever the family decide, but I would certainly hope and I believe that they are likely to continue this, because that court case will expose, I believe, malfeasance amongst individuals and institutions that really has to be brought out to allow history to properly remember Alex Salmond.'

A picture from the event in North Macedonia over the weekend showed Mr Salmond smiling cheerfully in the centre of a crowd of dignitaries in what is believed to be his last photo, alongside his Alba Party chair Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, who is wearing a tartan dress.

Eye-witnesses said medical teams desperately tried to resuscitate Mr Salmond, but were unable to save him.

It comes after a Kremlin TV chief said Mr Salmond was 'infinitely brave' and 'almost Russian-like' in his battle for Scottish independence.

Margarita Simonyan, head of state-run media company RT, paid tribute to Mr Salmond shortly after his death.

Posting on Saturday, she wrote: 'Eternal memory to the infinitely brave, almost Russian-like, soulful, tireless fighter for the independence of his native Scotland, the former First Minister of this country and, finally, RT host Alex Salmond.'

'Eternal memory' is a chant sung in the Russian orthodox church for the solemn commemoration of the deceased.

RT is one of Russia's largest English-language channels. It has been banned in Britain since 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Alex Salmond Show ran from 2017 until February 24, 2022 when Russian forces expanded their invasion of Ukraine.

UK ministers accused the political talk show of being an 'appalling Kremlin propaganda programme'.

Mr Salmond always insisted that he had full autonomy over its output.

Meanwhile, the speaker of the House of Commons told MPs that the former Scottish First Minister leaves a 'deep and lasting legacy'.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle yesterday led the tributes in the Commons as MPs met for the first time since his death.

He said: 'He served the people of Scotland for over 30 years as a member of this House, a member of the Scottish parliament and, of course, two terms as First Minister of Scotland.

'He was a tireless campaigner for Scottish independence, securing the UK Government's agreement for the 2014 referendum and playing a leading role in the Yes campaign.

'He leaves a deep and lasting legacy. His sudden death came as a complete shock and the thoughts of this whole House are with his family and friends.'

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said it was his 'great personal sorrow' that Mr Salmond did not live to see an independent Scotland.

A Book of condolence has also been opened at the Scottish Parliament following Mr Salmond's death.

Visitors will be able to pay their respects by writing their own messages in the book. It will then be sent to Mr Salmond's family.

First Minister John Swinney also yesterday lodged a motion of condolence in Holyrood to mark Mr Salmond's passing.

His motion expresses 'shock and sadness at the untimely death' and offers 'deep sympathy and condolences' to his family and friends.

It also marks his 'many years of public service' as an MP, MSP and First Minister.