"My first reaction when I heard the explosion was that a bomb had dropped close, because it was the time that the bombing was going on in the Long Hai hills. It wasn't until several seconds later that we realised that it was a mine.

"And out of the 33-odd people that were in the group, 16 or 17 had been wounded within about a 30 metre radius of the central explosion. Once, once we'd realised what had happened, accessed our own injuries and both my right hand man, Dave Sturmer and myself, had been wounded in the back, the arms, the legs and the back, but not bleeding because the hot metal, once it passes into the skin sears and covers over, it doesn't bleed, it seals the skin up again. We then set about trying to assist other people that had been wounded, called for a back up team of engineers on the radio, which were fortunate not to be damaged. And in assistance with a Corporal John Eades from the 6th platoon, we then started to mark out lanes to a helicopter evacuation pad where the people could be airlifted out."

CORPORAL PHIL BAXTER