LUZANE,
Yugoslavia, May 1, 1999 (Reuters) - The remains of a "Nis Express"
passenger bus rest on a bridge near the village of Lujane Saturday in Kosovo
after a NATO missile hit the vehicle. The Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug
said NATO killed at least 40 people Saturday
when a missile hit a bus north of the Kosovo capital Pristina, cutting
the vehicle in two and incinerating victims inside.
Reuters
Photo
The
Associated Press, May 1, 1999
BELGRADE,
Yugoslavia (AP) -- A NATO missile struck a civilian bus crossing a bridge
in Yugoslavia on Saturday, killing at least 40 people, state-run media
and witnesses said.
The
attack occurred in the village of Luzane about 12 miles north of the Kosovo
capital Pristina.
The
state-run Tanjug news agency said the missile struck about 1 p.m. local
time, cutting the vehicle in two and sending part of it plunging off the
bridge, which was damaged but not destroyed.
About
an hour later, the bridge came under attack again and an emergency services
doctor was injured, the agency said.
Independent
journalists on the scene saw about 15 bodies trapped in the charred bus
remnants that fell off the bridge. Most had been burned beyond recognition
and were horribly mangled from the blast.
Tanjug
said the bus was part of a regular express service linking Pristina and
the Serbian city of Nis.
The
portion of the bus that remained on the bridge was still burning more than
an hour after the attack.
"I
was in my garden working when I heard the sound of a plane flying,"
said Maksic Rajko, a Serb farmer. "I turned towards the sound. I saw
a bus on the road and suddenly it exploded. I heard screams and I came
to look."
NATO
had no immediate comment on the bus attack.
In another
attack, Tanjug said five people were killed Saturday when a NATO missile
struck the Kurilo district of Prizren, Kosovo's second largest city. About
23 others were injured, Tanjug said.
(End quote)
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