A nineteen-year-old boy was killed by a military mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnian portal “Dnevni avaz“ reported. The incident occurred on Saturday in a village near the town of Doboj in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, where a mine device dug into the ground was triggered after the young man entered a marked minefield. According to information from Bosnian media, he was trying to bring in a herd of goats that had strayed into the danger zone, BTA reported.
The boy is the third victim of residual anti-personnel mines in his family, the portal indicates. Before him, his uncle and aunt lost their lives in a minefield, and his father, also deceased, lost his leg in a similar incident.
Several other locals have also been killed or seriously injured by mines over the years. According to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Center, 1,781 people have been injured by remaining mines since the end of the war, with 624 dead. In addition, 53 demining specialists have lost their lives while clearing mined areas.
More than 800 square kilometers of Bosnia and Herzegovina remain mined since the end of the interethnic war in Bosnia (1992-1995), with estimates indicating that there are still over 170,000 mines, notes “Dnevni avaz“. More than 132,000 people live near these dangerous areas and under the shadow of a deadly war legacy, the portal also writes.