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The latest Pokemon Go hazard: Minefields

An organization in Bosnia has issued an alert reminding Pokemon Go players not to venture into minefields.

Ian Sherr Contributor and Former Editor at Large / News
Ian Sherr (he/him/his) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he's always had a connection to the tech world. As an editor at large at CNET, he wrote about Apple, Microsoft, VR, video games and internet troubles. Aside from writing, he tinkers with tech at home, is a longtime fencer -- the kind with swords -- and began woodworking during the pandemic.
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Ian Sherr
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Pokemon Go players have put themselves in increasingly precarious situations.

 Leong Hean Leun for CNET

Some Pokemon players are going too far in an effort to "catch em all."

Well, if you're a gamer in formerly-war torn Bosnia, you might be willing to venture into a real-life minefield while playing the international sensation, Pokemon Go.

"Today we received information that there are cases where users of the app Pokemon Go frequently go in suspected hazardous and risky places to find Pokemon," Posavina bez mina, wrote on its Facebook page.

The organization wrote the warning after seeing Facebook users publish photos of themselves playing Pokemon Go next to landmine warning signs.

"One can consider it a joke but it is not a joke if you consider the fact that twenty years after the war was over, we still have casualties every year," the organization said in an additional statement.

The nonprofit organization, which is devoted to marking and alerting people about the thousands of landmines spread throughout the region, said there are still 1,400 square kilometers of mined areas and approximately 88,000 buried landmines and unexploded ordnance. Not to mention, some mines are not properly marked.

It's become common in recent days to hear of Pokemon Go players putting themselves in dangerous situations. Despite a warning in the app to "be alert at all times" and "stay aware of your surroundings," players have gotten into car crashes, fallen off cliffs and even broken into an Indonesian military base, all in efforts to "catch" these mythical creatures using their smartphones.

All this has led various governments and police to ask players to be more thoughtful, and advocacy organizations like Common Sense Media to ask Nintendo to update the game with changes that protect users, particularly children, from harm. The game's developer, Niantic, declined to comment.