U.N. Relief Convoy in Bosnia Rescued From Land Mines

A U.N. mine-clearing team Sunday rescued a U.N. aid convoy that braved fighting to deliver food to the besieged Bosnian town of Gorazde only to fall prisoner to land mines on a bridge on the way home.

The aid convoy, which took 46 tons of food and medicine to Gorazde after the town had been isolated for four months from the outside world, rolled back into the U.N.-policed airport in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, 40 hours after it left for Goradze, about 30 miles to the east.

Ron Redmond, spokesman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said that neither side in the fighting--which pits Muslims and Croats against rebel Serbs--had cooperated to remove the mines.

A French mine-clearing team made sure the bridge was safe to cross.

The U.N. aid convoy had been delayed by shooting on the way into Gorazde on Saturday. An effort to get food into Gorazde last month failed when the U.N. convoy hit a land mine and had to be rescued.