Baku, Azerbaijan, June 4
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Two people were killed in landmine explosion near the city of Sardasht in Iranian western province of West Azerbaijan.
The incident occurred near Alvatan village, where three farm workers on a tractor hit a landmine remaining from Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), Ali Saadat, a local official said, IRNA news agency reported.
The explosion destroyed the tractor and killed two people including a 15 year-old boy, Saadat said, adding one person also was injured in the incident.
Iran is one of the countries in the world with the most unexploded landmines, which kill and injure dozens of people every year.
According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, there were 46 deaths and 76 injuries from landmines in Iran in 2012. Seven of the casualties were children.
Land areas in Iranian provinces of Ilam (1,700 hectares), Khuzestan (1.3 million hectares), Kermanshah (691,000 hectares), Western Azerbaijan (59,000 hectares) and Kurdistan (1,480 hectares) were mined during the war.
It was assumed that after the war around 16 million mines could still remain in these areas.