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Ddasaccident054, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident054, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The team started work at 07:30 and was working in a crater on the road when the accident occurred at 10:30. The soil in the crater was "a friable sandy clay" that allowed detectors to be used. There was a UXO (specified only as "rocket") lying against the side of the crater. The team had cleared and marked two one metre wide lanes across the large crater. Shortly before the accident Victim No.1 was seen to raise and re-tune his Ebinger detector. Victim No.2 was 25 metres away but reported that he heard Victim No.1's detector bleep immediately before the …
Ddasaccident053, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident053, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim began work at 07:00 and had worked with a ten minute break each hour until 12:34 when the accident occurred. The method involved excavating "to a depth of 20cm using a sideways sweeping motion" with the hoe [pick]. He had found one mine that morning and as he worked forward he encountered a rock ledge at only 5cm depth. He uncovered the rock for three metres until the ledge ended. At the edge of the rock was a tree root that the deminer tried to cut with the hoe. Either the movement of the tree root initiated the …
Ddasaccident055, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident055, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators visited the site on 4th November 1997 and found the deminers clearing a 2m wide verge on both sides of the road. They observed that the deminers were clearing without using marking sticks and at a distance of only 6 metres apart. The victim and his partner began work at 07:30. By 08.50 they had cleared 502 metres. Both men wore frag-jackets, helmet and visor. The victim was clearing by using his prodder. He was called to help his Section Leader remove grass from a large pothole in the road. As he returned at 08:50 he stepped on …
Ddasaccident056, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident056, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
Two witnesses "who at this stage were only one metre from the deminer" described his attempts at excavation as "futile" because the ground was too hard. The victim used water to try to soften the ground but this did not help. He excavated for about eight minutes before the detonation occurred at 08:15. The blast was "within half a metre of his body". The victim received injuries to his face "and may well lose his sight… his right forearm was later amputated….his right leg has fragmentation injuries". The victim was wearing a "fragmentation vest" and a visor (both damaged). The …
Ddasaccident057, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident057, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators visited the site on 9/10th July. They found that the accident occurred in a minefield laid by government troops in 1991/2. The mines were irregularly spaced in 3km long lanes. PPM-2 and POMZ-2 mines were found (largely) in different parts of the field. There was "scrub" about a metre high where the accident occurred and the ground was "hard clay with some organic mix" which allowed the use of detectors. Two parallel lines of PPM-2 mines had been found with an "exploratory base line". Further lanes were being cut to confirm the direction of the mine-lines. The accident …
Ddasaccident058, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident058, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
No accident report was made available. The demining group's country office had no copy. The accident was listed on a simple spreadsheet held by the country MAC.The injury was given as "upper jaw".
Ddasaccident059, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident059, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
At 11:10 he initiated the device while kneeling on the ground "carrying out demining". He had "obviously not found" the device when he had cleared the area himself "some minutes earlier". The mine was "very old and rusty which probably caused the malfunction of the mine". "Metal fragments at the scene confirm that the metal in the mine was almost completely corrugated" [presumably the word "corroded" was intended]. The deminer had been working with the "Ebex 420SI" detector [Ebinger] and either found metal near the mine and did not recheck after removing it, or did not calibrate his detector properly. …
Ddasaccident060, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident060, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The report stated that the demining task was a series of pylons and a bridge. Teams of two deminers per pylon were clearing a 10 metre square area around the base. When the board of inquiry visited the site on 1st March, demining was in progress around other pylons and they ordered it to stop immediately. The inquiry criticised the fact that the site had been tidied before their arrival. The were told that the victim had located two mines that day prior to the accident. These were destroyed and the victim was checking the blast area with his detector …