Flooding in Bosnia leaves land mines exposed
Digital Reporter
Tuesday, October 7, 2014, 5:14 PM - A flood that impacted nearly 40 percent of Bosnia's land earlier this year has left thousands of explosives and land mines exposed, according to a recent report by Vice.com.
As the flood waters receded, land mines that had been buried for nearly two decades descended into towns concealed under a layer of dirt.
In the span of one month, 54 mines, 840 explosives and 37,366 small explosives were found in populated areas.
"It's one thing for me to not go in the fields and try to sustain my family. But it's hard to tell my grandchildren to not go in the fields to play," resident Misic Jelisije told Vice.
"You know how kids are. You tell them not to do something, and that is all they want to do. But doing so here, they will die."
An estimated 220,000 mines remain buried in Bosnian land, relics from the three-year war that ended in 1995.
Dragan Kos, head of a de-mining unit, told Vice that his organization hopes to be mine-free by 2019 -- but limited resources and current flood conditions mean the task will more realistically be completed in 2050.
