Sarajevo - Hungarian army engineers yesterday took the first steps to repair Mostar's Stari Most, or Old Bridge, carefully winching pieces of heavy masonry out of the Neretva river.
The bridge had stood for 427 years until its huge stone blocks were sent crashing into the water by a Croat shell at the height of the Bosnian conflict.
The town's Croats as well as Muslims cheered as the first block, a 30-tonne piece of limestone from the bridge's arch, was lifted free.