To date, the mine clearance specialists have destroyed 157 explosive devices, thus clearing about 115,000 square meters of the municipality of Planadas, in the department of Tolima.
Peña Rica is a village in the municipality of Planadas, in the south of Tolima, where the National Army carries out humanitarian demining operations.
Thus, through the manual demining technique, members of the Humanitarian Demining Engineers Battalion No.2, destroyed an explosive device that menaced the good physical condition of the inhabitants of the sector.
The device that was found approximately 12 meters away from a tertiary road, put at risk not only the lives of the inhabitants, but in the same way made it difficult to transport agricultural products such as passion fruit, beans, coffee, milk, etc.
With this operation, the soldiers prevented that about six families became victims. From the time when the troops began to intervene in that place, the military have found four antipersonnel mines. However, in the municipality of Planadas since 2017 to date, about 115,000 square meters have been cleared, in which 65 antipersonnel mines, 62 unexploded ordnance and 30 improvised explosive devices have been detected.
At present, 30 mine clearance specialists are in charge of decontaminating the nearly 34,000 square meters that have been identified in the area and ensure that they will continue to work hard to fulfill their mission, generating confidence and tranquility.
Source: National Army - Humanitarian Demining Brigade
