Flowers and a mortar shell impact in the pavement mark the spot where 27 Sarajevans waiting for bread on Vase Miskina Street, men, women, children and the elderly, were blown to pieces by 2 Serb shells In May 1992, during the Bosnian Serb siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Almost 2,000 children, and over 10,000 people in total were killed in Sarajevo during the 3-1/2 year siege.

HORROR AND SILENCE IN THE CITY
The news quickly spread through the city since everyone who had a phone or had a phone nearby ran to see whether someone of theirs was hurt. Then the telephone system began to fall apart and only the lucky ones could get through that chaos in the network because quite literally every receiver in the city was lifted up. It took me some two hours to find out that some of my friends had been killed or injured. I won't mention the names because it is always difficult to draw the line at which one should stop with that kind of list. Until then the uncertainty had been unbearable. One always starts with the worst, first thinks of the worst. And then it started the crush in front of the hospital, where everybody waited to see whether they would bring somebody who was theirs. I can say that that day I was incapable of being a journalist. That was probably the only day when I couldn't do my job. And I admire my colleagues who were reporters that day and who moved among the dead bodies. But even today, when I pick up the receiver, if there is no signal, the memories of that day of mass murders pass through my head.
Hamza Baksic'
Journalist

Excerpt From: Sarajevo survivor testimonies from OPSADA (The Siege) by FAMA International