Team Leader Sami Said said his demining team was called after a landmine was detonated by three civilians in Hays Directorate.
“A child, Ali Zuhair, died and while two other children, Bakir Zuhair and Ali Akbar, were injured,” the leader of Team 26 said.
According to the engineer, the landmine was planted by the Houthi militia before they withdrew from the area – one of the most landmine contaminated regions in Yemen.
Said said his team is working hard to ensure the area is cleared and every civilian can return to their village and home, safely.
“We hope that the United Nations will call on the Houthi group to hand us the maps of their minefields to reduce the risks to civilians and allow them to return to their homes to cultivate their land, which is their only livelihood,” Said said.
“And also tallow he shepherds to return so they can graze their sheep, which is also their only source of income.”
But civilians displaced by the conflict in western Yemen are returning home after liberation to find their houses and villages mined – and Said’s team has been encouraging civilians to wait until their area has been declared safe before returning.
“We call upon civilians to not return to any area until after the engineering teams go to these areas and clear them completely, and we also ask them not to cultivate their lands until after the engineering teams finish their work first,” he added.
