ZAGREB, May 18 (Hina) - The Mine Action Centre (HCM) plans to de-mine Croatia completely until the year 2010 and this year we plan to de-mine 35 square kilometres of area, HCM director Damir Gorseta said at a seminar on humanitarian
de-mining, organised for reporters in Zagreb on Thursday. Gorseta said the Centre was considering the introduction of new technologies, such as bio-sensors, radars, and the 'Elf' system. The 'Elf' system from the United States is interesting because of its high speed, Gorseta said, adding the system would be tested in late June. The system can search one square meter in one second while a pyrotechnician can search 20-40 square metres in five hours. The system uses X-rays to register the evaporation of nitrate from explosives, Gorseta said, adding the method, which had been tested in laboratories, was reliable and could detect all kinds of mines in Croatia. Another interesting technology w
ZAGREB, May 18 (Hina) - The Mine Action Centre (HCM) plans to de-
mine Croatia completely until the year 2010 and this year we plan to
de-mine 35 square kilometres of area, HCM director Damir Gorseta
said at a seminar on humanitarian de-mining, organised for
reporters in Zagreb on Thursday.
Gorseta said the Centre was considering the introduction of new
technologies, such as bio-sensors, radars, and the 'Elf' system.
The 'Elf' system from the United States is interesting because of
its high speed, Gorseta said, adding the system would be tested in
late June. The system can search one square meter in one second
while a pyrotechnician can search 20-40 square metres in five
hours.
The system uses X-rays to register the evaporation of nitrate from
explosives, Gorseta said, adding the method, which had been tested
in laboratories, was reliable and could detect all kinds of mines in
Croatia.
Another interesting technology which the centre intends to test is
mine removal with bio-sensors, which cause the mutation of bacteria
which are present in explosives. The main principle of operation of
this system is to cause the bacteria to mutate, so that they become
fluorescent, Gorseta said, adding the Ministry of Environmental
Protection would be consulted before the method was tested.
Gorseta does not expect this method would be applied soon because it
takes two years to grow the bacteria.
According to the HCM material, which was distributed to reporters
at today's seminar, Croatia is among the world's ten most 'mine-
infested' countries, and this problem affects any attempt to help
the country recover after the Homeland War.
Gorseta estimated that between 1 to 1.2 million mines had been
planted in Croatia. It is suspected that some 4,500 square
kilometres are covered with mines, he added.
Of that number, 500 square kilometres are actually mined whereas
the remaining area consisting of a 500-metre long 'belt' on both
sides of former front lines are potentially 'infested' with mines
and other live explosive devices.
"Most difficult is de-mining those suspicious areas and it is a long
and costly process," Gorseta stressed.
Speaking about problems which are obstructing the de-mining
process, Gorseta said mine fields were not always marked or maps
were not correct. Another problem is that the location of a certain
number of mines is unknown because they are covered by vegetation.
Also, mines were planted by non-experts or they have changed their
position due to the time factor or soil erosion, Gorseta said,
adding in some areas of Croatia rivers used to be separation lines
during the war and some had since flooded mined areas several
times.
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