Spot the VALMARA-69 (V-69) bounding fragmentation mine in the picture below.
There
are already sources of information about mines available on
the internet and I do not want to duplicate those. To avoid that,
this section only covers the mines and ordnance that have featured
most in recorded Humanitarian Demining accidents. It is rare
for a deminer to suffer an accident, and when they do, more
than half do not suffer any disabling injury. This is because
most accidents occur with AP blast mines and the worst effects
of these can be protected against in many circumstances.
To read about Hollywood's dramatic-mines, click on HSE mines.
For a list of most mines and devices in recorded demining accidents, click here. It does not necessarily follow that the items featured are more
dangerous than others. In some cases it means that there are
so many of them around that the chances of having an accident
with them are higher. For example, the most common mine to feature
in an accident is the PMN, which is probably the most common
mine in the world (although it does not feature at all in some
countries). Far fewer accidents happen with AT mines or with
ordnance than with AP mines, probably because they were usually
not designed to be initiated inadvertently by people.
Each
entry in this section is short, and each contains a photograph
or two. Some entries contain information that is not available
elsewhere.
If
you think a reference is inaccurate or incomplete, please email
me with more information.
You
can see the dust on the ground being sucked into the bottom
of this AP mine detonation. Click on the link to see a stop-motion record.