17.01.2024 (05:07)
Russian deminers continue to clear Laos territories
The demining detachment of the Russian International Mine Action Centre continues to clear the territory of Laos of explosive hazards.
In November 2023, the Centre's demining team departed to carry out the sixth humanitarian demining operation in Laos and to train Lao specialists. The mission will last until 30 March 2024. At the moment more than eight hectares of territory have been checked and more than 650 explosive objects have been found. These are mainly cluster submunitions of American BLU-3/B, BLU-24/B, BLU-61/B aerial bombs.
Russian deminers have already carried out five annual multi-month humanitarian demining operations in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Bolikhamxay, Xieng Khuang and Khammouane provinces).
During demining, a total of more than 2,300 explosive objects were found and destroyed in an area of more than 160 hectares. These are the consequences of the American bombings carried out by the United States during the Vietnam War in 1964-1973.
The peculiarities of demining are the unfavourable hot climate, the tropical forest with dense vegetation and a large number of insects and poisonous snakes, as well as the burial of detectable munitions at a depth of up to 170 centimetres, which significantly slows down the pace of the search.
At the same time, the Сentre's branch in Laos has trained 120 deminers over five years, who are now successfully carrying out demining tasks in the national territory.
