The man — Christian Munetsi — is understood to have been facing problems with elephants which frequently destroyed his field and had resolved to use landmines to clamp down on the elephants.

He went to a minefield, which is on the border of Zimbabwe and Mozambique where he took five landmines.

On his way back, the landmines exploded and he was killed instantly.

Some of his body parts were found strewn in the landmine-infested area.

Police spokesman for Mashonaland Central Inspector Michael Munyikwa confirmed the incident and said police had failed to recover some of the body parts, and were engaging army engineers to assist in retrieving the remaining parts.

He said the landmines were a cause for concern for the police as people were losing their lives.

"Now that the rains have come, the impact of the rains has exposed the mines, making the area extremely dangerous," he said.

Early this month, two men were injured by landmines in separate incidents.

On February 1, Edward Duhwa (21) of Rushinga, stepped on a landmine and part of his left leg was blown off.

On February 7, another Rushinga man, Kudzanai Katidza (26), injured his left hand after he picked a landmine while herding cattle.

Inspector Munyikwa advised people to avoid going to landmine infested fields and to report anything that looks suspicious to the police.

"People should avoid going to these mine fields, and never take mines lightly or play with them as they are a danger to life," he warned.

Source: Herald newspaper, Zimbabwe http://www.zimbabweherald.com/index.php?id=40776&pubdate=2005-02-16

Submitted on 02/16/2005

Submitted by: Douglas Ball
Reference: The Herald (Zim) 16 Feb 2005

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Daniel said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Stealing ACTIVE landmines is about as Darwinian as it gets!

Charles said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I have to agree with Daniel. Particularly since they would likely have had the opposite of the intended effect -- if one had gone off under an elephant, likely the wounded elephant and his cronies would have trampled the crops the land-mines were intended to protect...

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