The Serbs had blocked all access roads to the city, cutting supplies of food and medicine.
They also cut off the city’s water, electricity and heating.
But the merge supplies were not enough for the citys population.
Photo credit:rich white/Flickr
Beyond the airport, lay Bosnian territory and freedom.
Through the sights on their rifles, they watched for movements and didnt hesitate to pull the trigger.
Construction of the tunnel began on January 1993, and continued round the clock for the next six months.
These men were paid in cigarettes one packet a day.
Cigarettes were scarce, costly and were highly prized items in bartering.
The tunnel was entered through a nondescript house near the airport belonging to a man named Bajro Kolar.
The opposite entrance on the Dobrinja side was hidden inside a garage of an apartment building.
Everyday between three and four thousand people and thirty tons of various goods passed through the tunnel.
Eventually, an oil pipeline, electrical cables and a telephone line was laid through the tunnel.
An electric pump bailed out water that frequently accumulated inside, sometime up to waist height.
The tunnel itself is five feet tall.
Because there was no ventilation, the air was stale and fetid, forcing everybody to wear a mask.
After the war ended, the tunnel fell into disrepair and most of it collapsed and got flooded.
Bajro Kolars house, now the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum.
Photo credit:Shiraz Chakera/Flickr
The tunnel’s south entrance, outside the siege lines.
Photo credit:BiHVolim/Wikimedia
Close-up of the tunnel entrance.
Photo credit:Damien Smith/Flickr
Sources:www.balcanicaucaso.org/NY Times/Dark Tourism
