Dutch Afghan refugee invents demining device

Childhood toys lost in a war-torn field have inspired an odd-looking invention which its young Dutch inventor hopes can help save thousands of lives and limbs in his native Afghanistan.

Decades of war, notably the 1979-89 Soviet intervention, have left the rugged Afghan countryside littered with landmines that continue to exact a merciless toll, mainly on children.

Now, in a small workshop in the industrial heart of the southern city of Eindhoven, 29-year-old Massoud Hassani screws in the last leg of an ingenious, wind-driven gadget he built to clear anti-personnel mines. He calls the device, the size of a golf buggy, a "mine kafon".

"The idea comes from our childhood toys which we once played with as kids on the outskirts of Kabul," Hassani said as he rolled out the device for a demonstration.

Short for kafondan, which in Hassani's native Dari language means "something that explodes", the kafon consists of 150 bamboo legs screwed into a central metal ball.

At the other end of each leg, a round, white plastic disc the size of a small frisbee is attached via a black rubber car part for drive shafts, called a CV-joint boot.

Assembled, the spherical kafon looks like a giant tumbleweed or seed head. Like a dandelion puff, it moves with the wind. It is designed to be blown around, exploding anti-personnel mines as it rolls on the ground. With the legs made from bamboo, they are easily replaceable. Once they are blown off it's simply a matter of screwing on others, which means the kafon can be reused.