A displaced community has been able to return home after one of Project Masam’s demining teams located and cleared Houthi 10 anti-tank mines that had fuelled civilian exodus.
Team 17, led by Hassan Al-Ghouri, was called and dispatched after a landmine exploded on 6 July when displaced farmers were clearing an area to plant trees in the Al-Rama area in Al-Qatabiyah, Ykhtal, (Mocha Directorate, Taiz Governorate).
Ahmed Qaeed Rahim, a farmer who had been moving sand bags where the blast occurred, told Project Masam: “We asked Masam team to help us, and indeed they helped us and saved us from 10 mines.”
Speaking about the clearance work, Team Leader Al-Ghouri said: “If Team 17 had not responded or delayed [its investigation and clearance], or even postponed the work until today or the next morning, there would have been major explosions and major problems as a result of the mines that were discovered in Al-Shayol area, next to the Al-Rama area.”
A driver of displacement, landmine contamination also prevents civilians from returning home.
“The roads [have now been] opened for citizens, leading to their homes and farms. Farms in the Yekhtal area and Al-Rama on the western coast were completely abandoned and the people displaced,” Al-Ghouri explained. “With the arrival of Masam teams, life began to return to normal, and people were able to re-enter their farms safely in the presence of Masam demining teams.”
Last week alone (3-9 July), Masam teams in the Mocha Directorate cleared 2,800sqm of liberated Yemeni land, effectively locating and clearing six anti-personnel landmines, 13 anti-tank mines and 33 unexploded ordnance.
Watch the video here.
