Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 27, 1994 TAG: 9404270078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JONATHAN C. RANDAL THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA LENGTH: Medium
Mary McLoughlin, 37, has served time as a prisoner in Iraq and survived the civil war in Liberia as well as conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and Iranian Kurdistan. But none of that prepared her for the Bosnian Serbs' relentless pounding of the Muslim enclave in eastern Bosnia with ``shells falling every few seconds.''
``Horrendous'' was the word she kept repeating to reporters less than 24 hours after she was evacuated by helicopter with the first batch of severely wounded.
Sent to Gorazde by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees before the Bosnian Serb offensive to organize an evacuation of ill patients, she and fellow physician Gordana Stejpanovic were trapped when the fighting erupted.
``We were very traumatized ourselves to see the carnage,'' she said, ``and visit the hospital and see so many injured and the bodies that were brought in constantly.''
McLoughlin described feeling ``absolutely impotent'' as Serb gunners targeted the hospital. Survivors of shelling were left unattended, ``moaning and screaming'' in the rubble for hours, because rescuers feared sniper fire.
``Every day brought extreme anxiety,'' she said of the nearly four-week siege's last 10 days. ``Four shells exploded right beside our building one day, and we knew if the barrage kept up for an hour or so the whole building around us would collapse,'' McLoughlin said.
Although doctors themselves, she and her colleague felt frustrated because surgeons and anesthetists were needed, not public health specialists.
McLoughlin described herself as ``very disappointed'' during the siege's first two weeks at what she took to be the indifference to her appeals for deliverance. By the time the world woke up, she said, Serb gunners were targeting the hospital and the inner city, where as many as 15,000 refugees crowded in among the normal 30,000 inhabitants.
Conditions were ``absolutely horrendous,'' she said. ``If a house was shelled and survivors managed to get out into the street, they risked being shot down by snipers.''
Asked if she felt let down by the United Nations, she said, ``When you are there, you always feel that people outside are not doing enough. We certainly feel that delay cost many lives and we felt it could have cost us our lives.''
by CNB