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Defense and Security Studies

1997

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Articles 91 - 112 of 112

Full-Text Articles in Public Policy

Ddasaccident233, Hd-Aid Apr 1997

Ddasaccident233, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The document stated that the demining group were working in a wooded area known to be mined. The SFOR monitors offered to lend the group protective equipment but they declined the offer. They did accept the offer of prodders. While prodding a deminer detonated a PMA-3.


Ddasaccident103, Hd-Aid Apr 1997

Ddasaccident103, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim was clearing a breaching lane bordered by barbed wire. When the wire got in the way too much, he stopped work to pull it aside. In pulling it aside he stepped outside the cleared area and trod on the mine. The mine was believed to be a PMN (from "found fragments") but there was concern expressed that the mine was "an MS3 (anti-lift device)" at the time. The victim's visor was damaged.


Ddasaccident104, Hd-Aid Apr 1997

Ddasaccident104, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim returned to his breaching lane after the short break and accidentally walked beyond the area he had cleared before the break, where he stepped on a mine. He may have not marked the end of his work properly. The device was identified as a PMN (from "found fragments").


Ddasaccident080, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

Ddasaccident080, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The victim was part of an advance team which was defining the perimeter of a suspected mined area, with the help of a local guide. The victim was putting in metal markers about 3m away from the existing mined-area boundary stakes. At 09:20 the victim stepped on a mine about 8m away from the existing boundary stakes. He suffered " a cracked bone and bruising to his left foot".


Ddasaccident105, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

Ddasaccident105, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The victim had been a deminer for seven years. It was five months since his last revision course and 35 days since his last leave. The demining group reported that the victim was digging with a pick when suddenly a PMN mine exploded.


Ddasaccident170, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

Ddasaccident170, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The victim was the vegetation cutter and prodder man. He cleared 50cm of vegetation at the end of the lane and then handed over to his partner, the detector man. The detector signalled so a marker was put down and the detector man returned to the umbrella. The prodder man investigated the source of the signal and then shouted that he had found a mine. He started to excavate around the mine in preparation for placing a TNT charge next to it. There were a lot of roots around the mine but the victim was not aware that there were …


Ddasaccident171, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

Ddasaccident171, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

A medical report indicated that the accident occurred at 11:50 and the victim was given first aid for 15 minutes. He arrived at Mongkul Borey Provincial Hospital at 12:40. He had suffered a traumatic amputation of his right foot above the ankle, minor fragment wounds along the length of his left leg and superficial wounds on the back of his left hand.


Ddasaccident106, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

Ddasaccident106, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim was clearing inside a collapsed building. The mines were probably laid on the roof, which had fallen in, so may have been in any position in the ground. The mine was identified as a PMN-2 (from "found fragments"). The victim's visor shattered and a photograph showed jagged fractures and little evidence of blast impact. [This damage implies a twisting force on a brittle plastic, indicating that the visor was probably raised, so explaining the facial injuries.] The deminer's pick was also damaged.


Ddasaccident229, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

Ddasaccident229, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The team decided that the work had moved away from the direction of the path, so work would start three metres behind the end of the lane and go in a slightly different direction. This was in the area that had been probed, not checked by a dog. The deminers walked to the new start point, then began to return to the change-over point. Victim No.1 was behind Victim No.2 when he stepped on a PMA-2. He suffered a "traumatic amputation" below his right knee. Victim No.2 had "less serious" injuries.


Ddasaccident059, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

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. …


Ddasaccident029, Hd-Aid Mar 1997

Ddasaccident029, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The primary cause is listed as a "Management/control inadequacy" because it seems that the group's SOPs allowed the victim to be too close to detonations on too many occasions and so those responsible for devising the SOPs and training were at fault.


Ddasaccident060, Hd-Aid Feb 1997

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 …


Ddasaccident172, Hd-Aid Feb 1997

Ddasaccident172, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The primary cause of this accident is listed as a "Field control inadequacy" because the victim was apparently in breach of SOPs (habitually) but had not been disciplined or appropriately corrected.


Ddasaccident107, Hd-Aid Feb 1997

Ddasaccident107, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim got a reading on a "hand grenade or its wire" and his partner came to investigate the reading with a long handled shovel. When he started to "cut/remove the bushes, safety pin of the hand grenade got out". The deminer ran away and after a few seconds the grenade exploded. The device was identified as a hand grenade from "found fragments".


Ddasaccident173, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident173, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The accident occurred at a site with "laterite contaminated soil" and several strong signals were found with the detector. The detector man informed his colleague and was making his way back to the rest area when there was an explosion.


Ddasaccident108, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident108, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The victim was injured when a farmer drove a tractor into an uncleared area close to where he was working. The deminer went to warn the tractor driver when the tractor ran over a PMN (identified from "found fragments") and the deminer suffered small facial and left eye injuries.


Ddasaccident109, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident109, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim was walking in an area that had been cleared three days previously by his own party as he made his way from the minefield at the end of the working day. He trod on a PMN mine that had been missed [presumably identified by inference]. A photograph showed a visor, which had been held in the victim's hand and had shattered. The remnants of the victim's boot were also shown.


Ddasaccident110, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident110, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim had found bullets before and so impatiently used his pick vertically to investigate directly onto a detector reading. He was squatting when it occurred and had his visor raised. The deminer's pick was destroyed and his visor slightly damaged. They claim to have identified the mine as a PMN from "found fragments".


Ddasaccident111, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident111, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The demining group stated that the Section Leader was carrying a UXO fuze (BM 21 rocket fuze) for disposal when he dropped it and it went off. Three other victims were close by.


Ddasaccident112, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident112, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim was pulling a wire obstacle out of the way when he accidentally stepped into an uncleared area and trod on a PMN [presumably identified by inference].


Ddasaccident113, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident113, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the room being worked in had been cleared by the back-hoe but it had not gone deep enough to uncover the mine. Victim No.1 was using the detector and got a signal but he thought it was a fragment because the back-hoe had cleared the area, so he investigated it by using the pick directly onto the reading. The mine was identified as a PMN [presumably by inference]. The victim's pick was “destroyed” and his visor damaged.


Ddasaccident114, Hd-Aid Jan 1997

Ddasaccident114, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim was squatting to prod with a bayonet and applied too much pressure. He used the presence of bamboo to explain why he squatted to prod. The mine was identified as a PMN from "found fragments". His visor was shattered in the accident and his bayonet was "lost".