NATO intention - catastrophe

Pancevo - General Manager of the Pancevo-based Azotara chemical fertilizer plant Miralem Dzindo said Sunday he was shocked by the devastation of his plant as food production is dependent on its output.

Bombing a fertilizer plant is the same as devastating wheat fields or other crops, he told local and foreign reporters who visited the site.

When production is normal, the plant usually has about 20,000 tons of ammonia in its storage tanks, but this time, fortunately, they were empty, as an explosion of ammonia could cause untold environmental disaster, Dzindo said.

The plant was incapacitated by the first strike two days ago, and the Saturday night assault was planned to destroy it completely, as the aggressors plan to prevent the spring planting in order to starve the people of Yugoslavia, he said.