The Blue Danube

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companies in  Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, said
Thursday that 60 of his 155  ships are stuck on either side of Novi
Sad, where two bridges were completely  destroyed by NATO.
        First, the allies targeted an old iron bridge below Novi Sad's
18th-century  castle; a large piece now lies in a section of river
yards wide. Completely  blocking the Danube is the modern, white
concrete bridge that was hit next.  Bombs split it in two, with both
sides falling into the water. A third bridge hit  did not collapse.
        The blockage separates downstream countries such as
Romania and Bulgaria  from upstream Western nations like
Germany and Austria. It was also stalling  ships coming and going
from the Black Sea, many of them carrying iron ore  from Russia
and Ukraine.
        ''It is a terrible situation for us, because we can only use the
Danube,'' said  Frank, whose stranded vessels are carrying iron ore,
steel, wood and fertilizer.  ''And all the countries along the Danube
are affected by this.''
        Those countries are Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary,
Croatia,  Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. In Romania,