Taxi Hits Landmine After Crossing Chilean Border

Chilean army retrieve a civilian vehicle destroyed by an anti-tank mine near Los Escritos creek, in Arica, Chile on May 26. (Francesco Degasperi/AFP/GettyImages)

A landmine in northern Chile detonated under a taxi from Peru which crossed illegally into the country on Friday night, it was reported. The driver was killed in the incident.

The car accidentally entered a minefield that dates back to the 1970s when thousands of mines were planted by the Augusto Pinochet regime. The former leader feared an invasion from the north.

at In a statement, the Chilean army said the minefield “was expressly marked according to existing international norms,” the BBC reported. A prosecutor, Patricio Espinoza, told the broadcaster the taxi driver was of Peruvian nationality.

Officials told The Associated Press the driver went off the road on Friday night to avoid border controls. The official, who was not named, added that more than one person was killed in the incident.

Since 2002, around 14,000 mines have been removed along the border but still thousands remain after it signed a treaty to ban or remove landmines.