Five men, victims of mines from BiH, despite having prostheses instead of legs, have climbed the Triglav, Slovenia’s highest peak and one of the symbols of the former Yugoslavia, 2,864 meters high.
The initiator of this, as well as many other incredible events, was Banja Luka resident Zeljko Volas, 48, president of the UDAS Amputee Organization, a former deminer who lost his leg in a mine accident during the war.
“It was not easy, not to lie, the harsh mountain is high. Some of us even thought of quitting when we saw where we were headed. Also, our friends from Slovenia welcomed us so warmly and encouraged us so much,” Zeljko said.
He said that they had been in contact with activists from the ITF Slovenia anti-personnel mine support organization throughout the rise, and each step was taken by a professional photographer and cameraman.
“When we climbed to the Aljaz tower at the top and from there, they received such a celebration and congratulations that we did not even think about waiting for us, “ Zeljko added.
The aim of climbing was to draw attention to the problem of landmines, as well as the position of mine victims in BiH, Oslobodnjenje news portal reports.
The current size of the suspected mine area in BiH is 1.018. km2 or 2.1% in relation to the total country size.
Through the systematic survey operations, 8,525 suspected micro-locations have been defined, estimated to be laid with around 79,000 mines / UXO.
A general assessment of the impact of mines / UXOs / cluster munitions in 129 cities / municipalities in BiH, identified 1,388 mine / UXO / cluster munitions impacted communities
Micro-location contaminated with mines / UXO / cluster munitions directly affects the safety of 545.603 inhabitants or 15% of the total population of BiH.
VICTIMS
After the war was finished 1,758 persons were killed, out of which 614 with fatal outcome.
During the implementation of humanitarian demining operations in BiH, 121 deminers were killed, out of which 51 deminer was dead.
In 2018, 3 mine incidents were reported in BiH, in which 1 person was killed, 3 persons injured.
TECHNICAL SURVEY AND MINE/CLUSTER MUNITION CLEARANCE
In 2018, operations of technical mine clearance and mine clearance were carried out on 173 tasks with and at the end of the reporting year, the certified surface area was approximately 5.5 km2.
In these operations, 2,101 anti-personnel mines were found and destroyed, out of which 1,467 PP mines as a result of the clearance of minefields, 57 anti-tank mines and 1,032 ESZR mines. The average found mines per hectare is: 14.2 min / ha.
