Bazi Village of Malipo County in southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/courtesy of Li Wanyan)
The news that a soldier was injured by a landmine during a mine-clearing operation spread fast in a small village near China's border with Vietnam. It was told that in the minefield less than 1 kilometer away from the village, Du Fuguo, a 26-year-old soldier, lost both his eyes and his hands trying to dismantle a landmine, his thick blast suit torn to shreds.
"We are saddened by the news," said Li Wanyan, a villager from Bazi Village of Malipo County in southwest China's Yunnan Province. "There was no road in the minefield; they had to climb all the way to the mountain while carrying tons of explosives – a daunting task."
The village, located at the foot of Laoshan Mountain along China's border with Vietnam, was one of the major battlegrounds during the Sino-Vietnamese War in which hundreds of thousands of landmines were laid down by both sides. More than three decades after the war, the hidden bombs still leave deep scars of war behind.
Only one leg left
In Bazi Village, where Li Wanyan lives, it is not rare to see men with only one leg. "Powerful landmines in the minefield near Laoshan Mountain can rip off a leg easily," Li said.
When Li was a kid, she used to dig up fruits from the ground near the mountain but sometimes ended up finding landmines. Elders in the village would ask her to keep a distance while taking out the detonator by hand.
But many male adults, who had to go to the mountain to plow their fields or herd cattle were often injured by landmine explosions.
"We were not even surprised when we heard someone was injured," Li said.
But the village is hardly alone. In the neighboring Balihe Village, it is reported that on average every household has a family member that has lost one leg. About 1.3 million landmines and 480,000 other explosives were buried on southwest China's Yunnan Province bordering Vietnam, according to a Southern Weekly report.
Swept away by rainfall, many of the landmines became hidden beneath thick layers of dirt, tangled within branches and grass. A single touch could trigger an explosion.
