A FEW HUNDRED LAND MINES FOUND DURING MINE CLEARANCE OF PLITVICE ROAD

KARLOVAC, Oct 21 (Hina) - While combing 360,000 square metres of the area alongside the 12-kilometre Turanj-Tusilovic section of the state road from Zagreb via Plitvice lake to the central Croatia, mine removal experts employed with the 'Mungos' company detected several hundred land mines and 120 'harder' types of explosive devices. To date, 43 persons were killed and 93 sustained injuries in blasts of those devices in the mine-infested Karlovac County. The 12-kilometre-long Karlovac- Tusilovic section of the Plitvice road which was closed off from 08.00 am to 01.00 pm every day since September 20 was reopened Friday. The closing off of the road was necessary when mine clearance was resumed nearby. Besides this road section, mine removal experts combed a bank of the Korana River, and parts of residential areas of Vukomeracki Cerovec and Tusilovic. The implementation of this project started last year, the project's manager Vladimir Matic of 'Mungos' said. Unfortunately, three workers have been injured while doing their job in the area, he added. The experts have now moved on to the Karlovac suburbs of Turanj, Sajevac, Goljki and Kamensko (about 50km south of Zagreb) - the former first line of combat, believed to be the most mine- contaminated area. (hina) ms