De-miners sound all-clear at marooned Jordan River baptism shrines 2 SHARES Share it! Share TweetBy ReutersQASR AL-YAHUD, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli and foreign engineers sounded the all-clear on Sunday around three churches on the western bank of the Jordan River, near where Jesus is believed to have been baptized, after mines that had marooned the shrines for decades were cleared. The river banks were once a war zone between Israel and Jordan, and were littered with thousands of landmines and unexploded ordnance. The two neighbors made peace in 1994 but it took many years before the defusing and clearing began. Work around the other four shrines – Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic – would take months to complete, Israel said.

Source: Manila Bulletin December 09, 2018 23:26 UTC