Two Bosnian sisters who lost track of each other almost 72 years ago met for the first time with the help of Facebook although they lived only 200 kilometres (125 miles) apart, local media reported Saturday.

Tanija Delic, 88, and Hedija Talic, 82, had not seen each other since 1941, the Nezavisne Novine daily reported on its website.

Talic, aged 11 at the time, got separated from her family while they were fleeing their village in northwestern Bosnia at the start of World War II.

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She ended up in an orphanage, while the parents were killed during the war and her brother emigrated to the United States.

“After the war, people were telling me all kinds of things,” Talic told the daily. “Some were saying that my family was killed, others that they moved to the US. I lost any hope that I would see any of them again.”

She later moved with her family to a village near the northeastern town of Tuzla, while her sister lived in a village in northwestern Bosnia.

They learned of each other and eventually met again after Talic’s son got interested in his family tree and contacted his aunt’s daughter through Facebook.

The sisters related “tears and disbelief” over the emotional reunion, saying they shared memories of “the smallest events from childhood,” the paper reported.

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The sisters said they would now try to trace their brother or his family, who are believed to be in the United States.

[Image via Agence France-Presse]