Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 25
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
One person was killed in an old landmine explosion near the city of Mehran in Iranian western province of Ilam.
The incident occurred near Changuleh village, on morning Oct. 25, where three de-mining personnel were working to secure the landmine remaining from Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), the state-run IRINN TV reported.
Majid Zargoushi, a local official, said that two other members of the de-mining group, who were injured in the incident, were hospitalized.
The health condition of one of the injured men is serious.
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.