Description

Armored Personnel Carrier Part – Impacted by Shrapnel: On Feb. 11, 1993, French troops at the car park near the entrance to the Sarajevo Airport, came under mortar attack by Bosnian Serbs outside the Sarajevo Airport perimeter. Four French soldiers in an UNPROFOR armored personnel carrier received a direct hit. Three members of the French Paratroop Battalion were injured, one killed. The crew was guarding the entrance to the airport. The mortar fire was a continuation of heavy mortar impacts, small arms fire, and sniper activity that had been taking place since early morning in the area. The airport was shut down as soon as the soldiers were injured. They were removed from the APC and evacuated for emergency medical treatment. I was with a group of journalists that had just arrived at the U.N. Post Exchange located next to the car park when the APC was hit. We were locked down inside the Exchange until the shelling stopped. The white piece of metal, which appears to be part of the muffler system of the APC (filled with shrapnel holes), was found lying near our crew vehicle in the car park. It was blown off the personnel carrier by the mortar blast.