Boy injured in mine blast: No fence where we played
Eleven-year-old Daniel Yuval whose leg was severed during mine explosion in Golan Heights says area where he played was completely open, saw fence only further up. Golan Brigade commander admits some minefields lack proper warning signs
"Daddy held me up and took me off the mountain. I told him to calm down, that nothing happened and that I'm strong." With these words 11-year-old Daniel Yuval, currently admitted at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, related the events that occured after he was injured Saturday from a mine explosion in the northern Golan Heights.
Daniel, who lost his leg during the dreadful incident, and whose sister was moderately wounded while the two played in the snow, said that there was no warning sign alerting of the minefield. "There was no fence where we were playing and we could enter with no problem. Only further up there was a fence," he noted.
Golan Brigade Commander Colonel Eshkol Shukrun called on the public to be more vigilant when stopping near minefields in the Golan Heights area.
"There are over 2,000 minefields in the Golan Heights and the fences which surround them are maintained by a special team," he explained during a press briefing near the location where brothers Daniel and Amit Yuval were injured Saturday.
He noted that the fence surrounding this particular minefield was laid on the ground.
"We are in advanced stages of investigating the terrible incident in order to draw conclusions," Shukrun said and admitted that "there are places where one needs to improve the fence's durability and address the faulty signs."
'Weather caused erosion of signs'
He further added, "Over the years there has been an erosion as a result of weather conditions, snow and wind. We are working to handle the impairments. At the place where we're standing you can clearly detect the fence, but further on there is a point where it's on the ground. We shall work to fix it."
The brigade commander stressed the importance of providing more information to the public regarding the existence of minefields in the Golan Heights and being more vigilant when stopping at the side of the road.
The colonel added that some minefields in the area have been there since prior to the Six Day War while others were placed there in the last 20 years.
"The issue is being discussed at the general staff level and in the Defense Ministry and I can say that there are places where minefields have been removed by a special unit as part of allowing communities to expand."
IDF sources said that the army acknowledges the desire of community heads in the area to reduce the amount of minefields as a way of allowing the public and local residents to tour the grounds and expand the residential area.
