Abelino Paicil is a nurse with the Chilean Army's Southern Humanitarian Demining Company. As a young man he helped bury the landmines that are now being removed by the thousands from Chile's borderlands. Paicil is on standby at the edge of minefields in case an accident occurs. Image: Katie Worth
So far the wind was only blowing at 60 kilometers an hour, so they continued to search for the missing explosives. In their first pass through the field they had found 416 mines, 14 fewer than historic records indicated had been planted there. Over the last few days, during the second pass, five more turned up. That day they had found none.They often fail to find every landmine in the records, said Perez. Some either exploded years ago and no trace remains. Others washed away and are likely at the bottom of a nearby pond. Occasionally a local has found one and taken it home.Once the company has picked through a field twice with demining equipment, they declare it cleared. They take down the fences and signposts and, after a public ceremony attended by neighbors and local leaders, allow public access or private use of the land for the first time in three and a half decades.THAT'S PART OF POLITICS, RIGHT? THINGS CHANGE
Soldiers advance through fields using metal detectors to find the landmines. Another soldier follows behind them, trimming the grass to indicate what areas have been searched so far. Image courtesy Major Alejandro Perez
Chilean Private Specialist Cristian Garnica searches for missing landmines using the Slovakian-made remote-controlled mine clearing vehicle Bozena 5. Image: Katie Worth