Minefield Tour
Tour page..............Next
Page
We begin with a series of photographs taken looking around a complete
360 degree circle looking at a minefield clearance operation astride Route-10,
the main road from Battambang to Pailin and thence to Thailand and Bangkok.
The clearance operation has only just commenced. Clearance has advanced
30 - 40m in from the south side in places along lanes, and enough to establish
control points (under umbrellas). The minefield is sub-divided into 20 metre
square blocks. On the north side of the road, we can see deminers have only
just begun to clear entry lanes into the roadside scrub. Already several
mines have been found here.
Demining operations for this site are spread out over about 1 kilometre
of road - about 3 platoons are working here so there will be about 90 people
on site.
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Traffic continues on the road, posing a hazard to deminers.
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A 1 metre wide entry lane is visible - it has stopped because a
mine has been found. The mine will be left until the end of the day when
all mines found will be blown up at the same time.
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A deminer is working at another entry lane. Again a mine has been
found.
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The road looking north east towards Battambang - our vehicle in
the middle distance.
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Control point in middle distance left.
Notice how people continue their normal life. They have settled in the
mined area. If they can maintain their claim on this land it will probably
become theirs by default. However, they are not the only people looking
for land. Once the mines have been cleared, other people may try to claim
it.
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Another control point. Deminer activities are monitored from these
points which are a safe distance behind the closest deminer working.
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Our interpreter, Neangh, and our principal guide, Maj. Rejean Cote
from Canada.
Notice more homes have been built in the background, all in mined areas.
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On to the next page......
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All graphics by Demining Research
Team. Aug 1998.
Webmaster: Edin Tabak
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