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Articles 31 - 60 of 96
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Ddasaccident149, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident149, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim did not use a tripwire feeler before using the detector, despite the known presence of tripwire mines. They decided that he then moved the detector head quickly and so pulled a tripwire with it.
Ddasaccident150, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident150, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim investigated a signal and found part of the handle of a metal spoon. When checking the spot again, the detector signalled again and the deminer did not re-mark the signal properly because he thought the signal would be from the rest of the spoon. He prodded in a squatting position and initiated the mine with his bayonet – which was "destroyed".
Ddasaccident167, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident167, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The working area was covered with dense vegetation and the clearance work involved the removal of thick bushes and small trees. The victim had been working as the vegetation cutter and prodder man on the morning of the accident and had completed the clearance of his lane just before the lunch break. As he was returning he noticed that one of the stakes holding the marking tape was not straight so he attempted to put it right by pulling the tape. In trying to do so he walked along a fallen log near the edge of the lane but his …
Ddasaccident237, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident237, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The document stated that the victim had been recently trained by the group he was working with. He was working in an area known to contain PMA-1 and PMA-3 mines. He was not wearing a helmet and visor and was prodding for mines. He was prodding with "a vertical stabbing motion" when he detonated a PMA-3.
Ddasaccident225, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident225, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
At 12:40 the two victims were at an appropriate place to site a spur, so the Team Leader instructed them to start a lane off to the left. The deminers changed roles, exchanging leggings and marking tape when they did so [only one set of leggings was issued per pair of deminers]. As Victim No.2 was withdrawing his partner asked him to pass the machete. He returned and did so, then walked away again. He was about five metres away when the mine detonated.
Ddasaccident151, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident151, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the deminer located a tripwire and informed his superiors. Correct procedure required that the wire be pulled from a safe distance. The deminer pulled the wire from 30 metres while in a standing position.
Ddasaccident168, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident168, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim was a prodder man and he and his partner had already cleared about 20m and had found about 30 fragments. At 08:30 the victim was returning along the lane after clearing some vegetation and trod on a mine that was about 11m into the lane.
Ddasaccident152, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident152, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim was clearing a breaching lane. He got a detector reading, marked it with a single stone, and began to prod in a squatting position. During prodding he initiated the mine. The victim was wearing a helmet and visor.
Ddasaccident226, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident226, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
A local farmer had reported a UXO to the police. The team located the farmer, then parked their vehicle 50m from the accident site and walked with the farmer towards the suspected UXO. The farmer entered the field with Victim No.1 following. The farmer indicated the rough direction of the device and Victim No.2 moved up behind him. All three began to search, all within 1.5 metres of each other. The medic returned to the vehicle to be near to the medical kit. "Statements indicate that at the moment of detonation Victim No.1 bent over slightly and the other two …
Ddasaccident153, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident153, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators decided that the victim had got a reading with his detector and investigated it but found nothing. He swept the area again and still got a reading, so without remarking the spot, he squatted to prod again [presumed to have been wearing his helmet and visor].
Ddasaccident154, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident154, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators decided that the two victims were assigned a breaching lane to clear. Victim No.1 was eager to finish investigating a signal when a rest period was announced, so hurried and used excessive force. Victim No.2: was not maintaining the safety distance required and was also injured.
Ddasaccident012, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident012, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim had last attended a revision course seven months before and had last been on leave eight days before the accident. The accident occurred on ground described as soft agricultural land. A photograph showed the ground which appeared to be dust on top of compacted fine-silt.
Ddasaccident234, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident234, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The Team Commander knew that there were mines present. "After thorough checking [he] had ordered the removal of 15cm of topsoil, followed by a second 15cm. The mine was still 15cm below the surface. This was too deep for the detector to pick it up and too deep for the prodder to reveal its presence… the ground compacted under his weight and set off the mine."
Ddasaccident077, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident077, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
A deminer [the victim in a later accident on the same day] began clearance and located a PMN. He informed the Team Leader and then continued work and located another two PMNs. He then moved to the end of the clearance lane and found a further three PMNs. As he worked he marked the lane by taking markers from the right side and putting them on the left side. Each of the discovered mines was marked with a wooden picket.
Ddasaccident078, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident078, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The Team leader was preparing to destroy the discovered mines when he was injured in the first mine accident on the site that day [See accident No.227]. After the Supervisor had dealt with that accident he went looking for the deminer who had found the mines, intending to appoint him as the acting Team Leader.
Ddasaccident157, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident157, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim was working in a “small garden”. His detector registered a signal and he prodded and located a fragment. He checked the area with the detector and it signalled again, so he prodded the same area and the mine initiated. The deminer's helmet and bayonet prodder were "destroyed". A photograph showed that the visor has been torn from the helmet on one side.
Ddasaccident156, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident156, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim used his detector over the two meter clearance lane he was working. He then put on an anti-fragment jacket and a helmet to start prodding. During the prodding he "made mistake by inserting excessive pressure on the top of the mine…"
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 …
Ddasaccident026, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident026, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
On the day of the accident a truck initiated a mine with its right front wheel as it turned onto the verge to unload. The driver was sitting above the wheel that caused the detonation. He escaped from the cab before it caught fire. He was taken to hospital but later discharged in "good health". The blast wave threw the truck one-meter forward, destroyed the wheel and made the cab and front tyres catch fire. [Photographs indicate minimal blast damage to the cab above the wheel arch – implying deflagration rather than detonation of the device, or an incendiary/small blast …
Ddasaccident236, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident236, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The document stated that the victim was called to confirm the presence of a mine by one of his colleagues. He turned to comply, and as he did so his foot slipped "on a piece of wood" and he fell over. As he got up "he put his foot outside the cleared lane and detonated a PMA-3 which was buried and not visible".
Ddasaccident082, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident082, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim had checked the area with a detector then started to cut the grass and bush with a sickle. He stepped on a mine that he has missed at the end of his work on the previous day. The investigation was limited by bad security in the area and the investigators were unable to validate a claim that the Schiebel detector signalled constantly and so was unreliable.
Ddasaccident227, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident227, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim [who was wearing protective equipment including leggings] took over clearance at the new end-of-lane and had cleared about five metres when he stepped on a mine that may have been "concealed below a small rock". The Team Leader was close to the victim. Three other deminers hurried along the lane to his assistance and they carried the victim to the Control Point where the medic attended him. The victim suffered "bruising and flesh injuries to his lower leg and fractures to his left foot". He was not expected to require amputation. It took "approximately 15 minutes" to reach …
Ddasaccident228, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident228, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
Prior to the accident the Team Leader had "used a machete to clear foliage and to inspect uncleared ground" in the accident lane. He did not use a detector or prodder. He advanced ten metres in this way, then handed over to the victim. The ten metres were counted as "cleared". The Team Leader was reported to have "used this system on other occasions to encourage deminers to clear areas faster". He was not wearing any protective equipment. During this time he missed what the report states was a "PMA" [I infer a PMA-3]. The deminers returned to work and …
Ddasaccident084, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident084, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim was clearing the side of a small stream when he got a detector signal and marked it, then prodded but could not find anything. He checked the reading but did not "remark" it and started to prod again. The mine detonated. The victim's visor shattered into many shards in the blast (as shown in a photograph). His bayonet had a bent blade and the handle had broken up.
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 …
Ddasaccident083, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident083, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The victim had been a deminer for three years. It was two months since he had last attended a revision course and seven days since his last leave. The area being cleared was described as "hard and bushy". The investigators decided that the mine involved was a PMN and that either the victim was cutting bushes without sweeping/detecting the area in front of him, or the deminer lost his balance while squatting to cut bush and stepped sideways onto a mine. His helmet was reported to have been damaged in the blast.
Ddasaccident085, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident085, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim's detector was reading constantly so he was excavating with a shovel without having marked any suspicious points. He was prodding with a bayonet to loosen the soil, then removing it with the shovel. His shovel was "destroyed/lost" in the accident.
Ddasaccident231, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident231, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The document stated that the team was active demining in an area with a "mixture" of AP mines including improvised MRUD directional fragmentation mines. A deminer was defusing a MRUD and working directly in front of it. A second deminer was walking towards him to help and a third was observing "from about 10 metres away, also in direct line-of-sight". "The mine detonated killing the two…closest to it and severely wounding the third."
Ddasaccident086, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident086, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim had investigated a reading in the squatting position with a prod. He was not "wearing his helmet properly". They identified the mine as a PMN (from "found fragments") and recorded that the victim's helmet and bayonet were "destroyed".
Ddasaccident087, Hd-Aid
Ddasaccident087, Hd-Aid
Global CWD Repository
The investigators determined that the victim was in a known POMZ minefield but neglected to use a tripwire feeler before advancing beneath a big bush with the detector, so pulled a tripwire with the detector head. It was recorded that there was "No damage to equipment", but photographs of a damaged Schiebel detector were included in the report.