MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

BACTEC says goodbye to the Falkland Islands

Deminer working along MPA road. (Photo by Kev Bryant)

The BACTEC (Battle Area Clearance, Training, Equipment and Consultancy) Project Management and the remaining Zimbabwean de-miners will shortly say goodbye to the Falkland Islands after more than six months of living and working in the community. Throughout the project the community has welcomed BACTEC personnel from UK, Zimbabwe and Lebanon and shown us great hospitality during our long stay away from home.

All the Lebanese de-miners returned home to warmer climes, in April as did the majority of the Zimbabweans. Along with Roger Gagen, 4 Zimbabwean de-miners have remained on the islands to complete the location and clearance of the final panel of 16 anti-tank mines at Surf Bay. This work has been carried out using a combination of an armoured excavator, operated by Bruce Humphreys and manual clearance techniques using mine detectors which were operated by the Zimbabwean de-miners. The last mine was finally located and successfully cleared on Thursday 27th May 2010. Now that BACTEC’s work has been completed except for some reinstatement and removal of the mine signs, the DPO will carry out the necessary QA checking, after this the site may then be formally handed over as mine/ordnance free.

Following the QA checking BACTEC will have cleared and handed over the four task sites. At Sapper Hill all 190 recorded mines were located and disposed of as well as two sub-munitions. At Goose Green no mines or UXO were found but the clearance operation has proved the site to be ordnance free. Similarly at Fox Bay no items of ordnance were found. These two areas had been classed as suspect mine/UXO contaminated areas and have now been certified as ordnance free. At Surf Bay the final task site for clearance, some of the mines were found to be buried deep into the sand, at depths in excess of 4m.

Roger Gagen, BACTEC International’s Falkland Islands Demining Project Manager, said “The project has been an overall success. We have been faced with a number of challenges, including the weather, all of which we have overcome with the help of FIG, colleagues on the islands and especially the community. Our Lebanese and Zimbabwean de-miners adapted well to the Falkland Islands’ working environment and worked assiduously to successfully complete the project to the required standards in the specified timescale. We have experienced all weather conditions, some quite hostile but the work continued. I am pleased that the final mines have now been located and cleared and the project has been completed, as per the FCO contract, during the Austral summer.

On behalf of both Guy Lucas, BACTEC International’s CEO, and the teams, I would like to offer my most sincere thanks and appreciation to the Falkland Islands community for their support, encouragement and patience throughout the project.”

By Roger Gagen
Project Manager
BACTEC International Limited
 

More info:   Demining in the Falklands