Sappers in Armenia defused mined territories in Siunik district

This year sappers in Armenia have defused about 21 hectares of local territories, including mined areas in Siunik district. However, the neighbourhood of 60 settlements of the country still remains mined.

The action of defusing the territories in Armenia is being carried out by non-governmental organization "Center of humanitarian mine clearing and expertise". As a result of this kind of works on mine clearing not only the probability of accidents caused by explosions of non-defused ammunition reduces but also the territory of lands fit for agricultural use increases.

According to Head of the NGO Ruben Arakelyan, as a result of the works which started in Armenia in spring in accordance with international standards, about 21 hectares of land were cleared from mines, a lot of grenades, bullets of various calibres, antitank and antipersonnel mines were found and defused.

Last week a ceremony of transmission of the territories cleared from mines by the Armenian sappers to local authorities was held in the neigbourhood of the settlement of David-Bek, Siunik district of Armenia. By means of the respective systems the territory cleared from mines was specified and inspected once again after which a certificate of mine clearing and specifying the front zone territory was handed to Suren Khachatryan, Head of Siunik district, "Times.am" reports.

Suren Khachatryan expressed a hope that "additional investment from donor organizations would promote strengthening the activities of mine clearing the territories".

According to expert estimation, as of today about 60 settlements in Armenia remain non-defused. 102 land areas of about 322 square kilometers territory are questionable from the point of view of the presence of mines. Since 1994 when cease-fire regime was established with the neighbouring Azerbaijan over 400 people blasted on the mines or ammunition, 112 of them perished, "Armenia Today" reports.