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Ddasaccident203, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident203, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The accident was mentioned on the demining group's own spreadsheet of incidents they had suffered in the country. However, the country office did not have a copy of their own internal accident report.
Ddasaccident204, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident204, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
Victim No,1 was working with Victim No.2 to his right when he saw a bush with a pile of PMN-2 mines beneath it. He crouched to peer under the bush, suspecting the cache might be booby trapped. Having seen no sign of a trap he stepped back and initiated a buried PMN-2 with his right heel. Victim No.2 was "less than ten metres away". He received fragment injuries to his arm and fragments of molten plastic in his leg which cut his tendons.
Ddasaccident295, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident295, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
After replacing the pin, he turned the mine over and put pressure on the base of the mine to try to force it open. The mine detonated. He lost the hand that was holding the mine and had extensive damage to his leg(s) under the table.
Ddasaccident292, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident292, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
To save time, breach lanes were reduced in width to 50cms. A Ghurkha deminer, walking in the ‘reduced width” lane activated a PMN (either a Chinese Type 58 copy of the PMN or an Iraqi copy). It seems that the TNT in the mine had cracked up causing a partial detonation.
Ddasaccident291, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident291, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
It is believed that the victim was using artery forceps to extract a detonator when he inadvertently prodded into it. The detonators are “stab-sensitive”. The mine activated and he was killed instantly. No details of his injuries were made available.
Ddasaccident290, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident290, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The record states that the victim was “clearing mines” and stepped on a Type 72 anti-personnel blast mine and lost his foot. It is assumed that he was using his detector at the time.
Ddasaccident289, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident289, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The driver of a recovery truck was sent to recover broken-down plant equipment in a minefield. Lack of supervision and appropriate instructions meant he walked into a known mined area to check the vehicle. He stood on an anti-personnel blast mine; either a PMN, Type 58 Chinese copy, or Iraqi PMN copy (black), or a Type 72 AP and suffered a lower leg amputation.
Ddasaccident286, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident286, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
A Ghurkha deminer was working with a Schiebel AN/19 in an area of high salt contamination (Subkha – salt marsh) when he failed to detect a Type 72 anti-personnel mine and activated it with his foot. He suffered a traumatic amputation of his lower leg.
Ddasaccident285, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident285, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
An ex-pat deminer was checking the edge of “iron bomb of 16 inch Naval shell crater” in a minefield when he trod on a Type 72 anti-personnel mine. The mine has a minimum metal content and he suffered a traumatic amputation of his lower leg. It is presumed that he had his detector in his hand at the time of the accident.
Ddasaccident284, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident284, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
At the anti-tank mine where the accident occurred, one anti-personnel mine was visible, one had detonated, but the mine at 12 o’clock was missing. The victim approached the anti-tank mine from behind, sweeping with his detector. As he advanced, he stepped on the Type 72 anti-personnel mine. He was using a Schiebel AN-19 detector.
Ddasaccident280, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident280, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim was coming to the end of his shift when he discovered a V-69 and began to expose it for demolition. His partner reported that the victim was racing against the tide to get the job finished, when suddenly the sand gave way and he slid into the hole he was excavating. This may have been because of his heavy weight and the sand getting wetter (softer) as the tide advanced. The mine functioned, bounded and detonated. It is not clear whether it detonated against his lower body or at a distance from it.
Ddasaccident279, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident279, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The “informal SOP” at the time allowed operators not to drive the machine out of the mined area at changeover times. In this case, the victim tried to change from one track to the other as his replacement operator and his Team Leader approached. As he changed tracks, he stood on the ground between the tracks and trod on a VS50 AP mine. The VS50 is over-pressure protected (a sustained pressure is needed) and so “resistant” to detonation by flails.
Ddasaccident277, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident277, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
In order to gain access to the PMN mines the victim had to climb over a pile of VS 1.6 (scatterable anti-tank mines). When he jumped down from the tank mines, he landed on three PMNs. This was inferred because three craters were found afterwards. It is thought extremely unlikely that PMNs would sympathetically detonate, so the victim’s colleagues thought it most likely that he landed with some of his weight on all three.
Ddasaccident002, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident002, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The accident occurred near a former Soviet hill post. The post had been subject to frequent night attack so the Russians had installed "listening devices" in a ring around the hill as an early warning system. The devices were "briefcase sized" and buried, protected against weather by plastic sheets. They were known to be protected by MS3 mines and the demining group, having no explosives for detonation in situ, had the policy of pulling the devices remotely. In all previous cases, pulling had resulted in a detonation of the MS3 mine or mines, activated by pressure-release. The listening devices were …
Ddasaccident074, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident074, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
On the day of the accident the victim was inspecting one of four demining teams when it started to rain. He was aware that their explosives store was not properly covered, so he looked around for something suitable to serve as a tarpaulin. He saw some material and picked it up, turning as he did so. His foot detonated an unidentified anti-personnel mine that was partially under his left foot. He was not wearing any protective clothing. The photograph below shows him reproducing the position he was in at the time.
Ddasaccident072, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident072, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The minefield consisted of a pattern of Ploughshare fragmentation mines surrounded by three anti-personnel mines. The victim was a sapper, tasked with locating and replacing mines that had been detonated by animals etc. He was using a prodder (approximately 50cm long) to find safe places to stand. His colleagues were about 10m behind him. Having prodded in one particular area, he placed his foot there and stepped on a mine. The victim believed that rainwater had caused the mine to move from its place in the pattern, and that he missed it whilst prodding. No detectors were available at that …
Ddasaccident073, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident073, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim worked as a medic attached to the Engineer Corps. At the scene of the accident there was a store of mines and ordnance for defence of the Zimbabwe border. Enemy troops had taken some of the mines and laid them on the Zimbabwean side. A soldier stepped on a mine and the victim went to the site and treated the casualty. As he and three others were lifting the casualty onto a stretcher, a second mine exploded. The victim believed the mine was beneath the casualty. He was not able to identify the mine as other than an …
Ddasaccident075, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident075, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim was breaching the minefield from the Rhodesian side in order to retrieve sensitive equipment left on the other side by the Rhodesian Airforce. He was crouching down using an 18-inch ".303" bayonet to prod the ground in order to find safe places to put his feet. When he was 10-15m inside the minefield he prodded onto a R2M2 mine that exploded. The victim believed that rainwater had caused the mine to flip onto its side at right angles to its normal position.