ITALY/BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: NATO DIVERT MILITARY PLANES TO SARAJEVO DUE TO BAD WEATHER AT TUZLA

Record ID: 639613

  • Title: ITALY/BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: NATO DIVERT MILITARY PLANES TO SARAJEVO DUE TO BAD WEATHER AT TUZLA
  • Date: 17th December 1995
  • Summary: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA /AVIANO, ITALY (DECEMBER 17, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 1. GV U.S. TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT AT SARAJEVO AIRPORT 0.14 2. SLV/SV U.S.TROOPS DISEMBARK FROM AIRCRAFT (2 SHOTS) 0.34 3. SV U.S. SOLDIER STRATMAN SAYING "WE WERE DUE TO GO TO TUZLA BUT GOT DIVERTED."(ENGLISH) 0.39 4. GV EQUIPMENT UNLOADED 0.47 5. SV U.S. SOLDIER MCCLOSKEY SAYING" I'M GLAD WE GOT HERE FINALLY, IT'S BEEN A LONG TRIP. (ENGLISH) 0.55 6. SLV VEHICLES DISEMBARK/U.S. TROOPS STAND CHATTING/ HUMVEE VEHICLES DRIVING AWAY (4 SHOTS) 1.37 AVIANO, ITALY 7. GV/SV VARIOUS OF U.S. SOLDIERS IN LARGE HANGAR BUILDING WITH KIT WAITING FOR AIRFLIGHTS (15 SHOTS) 2.28 8. SV COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS WRITES TIMES OF FLIGHTS AND DESTINATIONS ON A WHITE BOARD (4 SHOTS) 2.42 9. GV/SV SOLDIERS ATTEND PRAYER SERVICE (4 SHOTS) 2.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 1st January 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA /AVIANO AIR BASE, ITALY
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVA2Q6QWWVT52RMAF4ZNJ21BF6C7
  • Story Text: NATO diverted at least one flight carrying U.S. troops and equipment to Bosnia's capital Sarajevo on Sunday (December 17) after it was unable to land in fog-bound Tuzla, witnesses said.

    Experts say Tuzla, north Bosnian destination for the first U.S.

    combat troops but closed by freezing fog for two days, is likely to remain shut till Thursday at least.

    A Tuzla-bound U.S. Air Force plane carrying four U.S.

    servicemen and light military equipment landed instead in the Bosnian capital, a Reuters Television crew at the airport reported.

    At least one more diverted flight was expected to land in Sarajevo on Sunday, U.N. movement control officers at the city airport told Reuters.

    About 60,000 NATO troops are being deployed to Bosnia to help enforce the peace agreement signed on Thursday in Paris.

    Many of the French and British troops are already in place as part of a U.N. peacekeeping force and will simply change their insignia when authority is handed over to NATO on Wednesday.

    But the movement of 20,000 U.S. troops from bases in Germany and Italy to Tuzla in northern Bosnia has been delayed by fog and snow which have shut that city's airport.

    About 800 U.S. paratroopers had been scheduled to fly from Aviano in Italy to Tuzla on Sunday but foggy weather delayed their departure.

    "We've been training, we're ready to go," said 25-year-old Damian Mackie from Seattle, with the 3-325 Airborne Battalion Combat team, as he lined up to check in for his flight.

    "We're just tired of waiting", he added.

    The weather in Sarajevo has been marginally better than at Tuzla and U.N. aid and NATO flights have been landing there with some delays over the past week.

    The drive from Sarajevo to Tuzla is about five hours depending on weather and could take U.S. troops through Bosnian Serb-held territory and through areas where foreign Islamic mujahideen loyal to the Bosnian government have been active.

    Operation Joint Endeavour, in which NATO forces are joined by units from 16 non-alliance countries, will be the biggest movement of troops across Europe since World War Two.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register