11/22/2007

At least they didn't hit my car

Posted by Andrew |

I thought this was... unique.

Hailstorm Sets Off Bomblets in Lebanon
BEIRUT — The season's first hailstorm Tuesday was a blessing in disguise for cluster bomb-infested parts of southern Lebanon, triggering blasts from previously unexploded bomblets. No injuries were reported.

After a long dry spell across Lebanon, hailstones as big as walnuts hit villages and struck undiscovered bomblets scattered across the landscape, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC), confirmed that many cluster bombs exploded when they were hit by hailstones in villages near the town of Marjayoun.

More than 30 people have been killed by cluster bombs in southern Lebanon since last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel.

The United Nations and human rights groups accuse Israel of dropping about 4 million cluster bomblets during the war. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians in the area.

Cluster bombs look like huge canisters. When dropped, they open in flight and eject dozens or hundreds of small bomblets, often across a wide area. Some fail to explode on impact and detonate later when moved.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

1 comments:

Bruce Kratky said...

About eight years ago our driveway was falling apart and we didn't have the funds to replace it. The house looked terrible and I was quite ashamed of it. One week day on my way home from work I was almost swept up by a tornado. It was one of the closest calls of my life. I was, however, struck by hail. Our car, a silver Chrysler Concorde, was dented on the hood, roof, and trunk lid. I took it in to get the estimate for repairing the damage. The insurance company, without batting an eye, cut me a check for $3200. Because of the color of the car the dents didn't show much and the car was old enough at the time that putting much into it didn't make sense. So, we took the cash and purchased a new black top driveway. The cost of the drive was $3100. Ever since I have considered that hail literally "pennies from heaven." The house looks good even eight years later. Though this is a week comparison to unexploded bomblets, still, that there are that many fewer left to maim and kill, that it cost no one their lives to deactivate or deliberately explode...those hail stones too were "blessings from heaven." Don't you think?

9:03 PM  

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