http://www.globeandmail.com/gam/International/20000926/UMINEN.html

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, Tuesday, September 26, 2000

Accident sets back Canada's mine-clearing effort in Kosovo

ANDREW MITROVICA

Canada's problem-plagued effort to rid war-ravaged Kosovo of land mines
has suffered another severe blow after an experienced worker lost a leg.

The accident involving a mine-disposal expert took place Sunday in a
remote, mountainous region of southern Kosovo near the Albanian border.
The 30-year-old man had to be carried part way by horse to a German
field hospital where his right leg was amputated, said Peter Wright,
president of the International Demining Alliance of Canada.

"It's been a blow to everybody," Mr. Wright said in an interview from
Ottawa yesterday. "Everybody is just shattered that he had the
accident."

This is the second serious mishap involving IDAC crew members in the
past month in Kosovo and has triggered a temporary halt of mine-clearing
by two teams in the region, pending the completion of an investigation
by United Nations officials.

On Aug. 25, another mine-disposal expert required reconstructive surgery
after suffering burns and deep cuts on his hand when a detonator he was
holding blew up. Both injured men, who remain unidentified, are South
African.


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