Flash and a bang as Mozambique is declared free of landmines
Source: The Guardian
There was a flash, a cloud of dust and a loud bang beneath an iron railway bridge, followed by a car alarm. The last known landmine in Mozambique had been destroyed, a victory many felt they would never see in their lifetime.
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Ash Boddy, programme manager of the Halo Trust, which has led demining efforts in the country for more than 22 years, replied: “Those are really dangerous, nasty mines.”
Perhaps happiest of all was Albert Augusto, director of Mozambique’s National Demining Institute, who had cranked up the detonator for McCain. “Now I’m jobless,” he joked.
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In the early 1990s, around 600 casualties per year were reported; by 2013 this had dropped to 13. With a combination of manual and mechanical clearance, Halo has now destroyed more than 171,000 mines and cleared 1,118 minefields, roughly four-fifths of the total removed by all operators at a total cost estimated in 2012 at $285m.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/last-known-landmine-mozambique-destroyed
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