Soldier dies during manual demining in northern Colombia

Colombia's army confirmed Wednesday that a soldier died after a land mine exploded during the army's Manual Demining Process (DAICMA) launched days ago in the village El Orejon of northern Antioquia.

The victim was identified as Wilson Martinez, 37, who spent 12 years of his life removing land mines. As the first victim since the program was launched, Martinez died right after the explosion, which also injured two of his colleagues. Before the explosion, they had already cleared 360 square meters of mines and had deactivated four land mines.

Rafael Alfredo, director of the Colombian agency in charge of the program, said that there were about 240 anti-personnel mines installed by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in El Orejon alone.

The Colombian government hopes the demining program can clear away the land mines with the help of FARC rebels, who know the exact locations of the installed mines, in order to avoid thousands of injuries caused every year in South American countries. Endite