09-01-2010, 03:12 PM
GENEVA: Floodwaters in Pakistan have dislodged and carried landmines to places previously deemed safe, adding increasing risks to the population, the international Red Cross warned on Tuesday. “Since the beginning of the floods, three children, a woman and a man have been severely injured by landmines in disaster-hit regions,” an official from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Luiza Khazhgerieva said. The ICRC has, in recent weeks, documented incidents of abrupt explosions in areas previously deemed to be free of landmines. In one instance, a woman’s leg was blown off after she stepped on a mine while collecting firewood. “In addition, two anti-personnel mines and a grenade were found in the pools of stagnant water, which were defused by the bomb disposal squad in Dera Ismail Khan,” said the aid official. “Big explosions have been seen by local people in moving flood water there,” she added. The aid agency has stepped up a campaign to remind the population of the prevailing and drastic dangers of landmines.