Mechem demining teams lifted more than 23 000 landmines over an eight-month period on Turkey’s eastern border – a task regarded as one of the most significant achievements yet in the field of humanitarian demining.
Each of the potentially deadly devices was detected and removed by hand at a rate of more than 200 a day. Since demining operations started in 2016 there has not been a single fatal or serious injury to any team member, Denel said in a statement today.
Zwelakhe Ntshepe, Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of Denel called it “a major achievement confirming Mechem’s reputation as a world leader in creating a safer world”.
“The number of landmines removed is unprecedented in global terms. Such targets have previously only been achieved in areas where large stockpiles were destroyed and not where mines have to be detected and physically taken out of the ground.”
Mechem is a business unit of Denel Land Systems and has been responsible for demining operations in Mozambique, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa as well as in Afghanistan.
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Source: Defence Web