One wrong move and you're dead

Frank Walker - 

Imagine you are five metres underwater on a hostile shore where there is an enemy who will kill you if he gets the chance.

The cold water is so murky that you can't see your hands, even when you hold them up to your face mask.

You are groping along the muddy sea floor with your fingers, feeling about for something solid and metallic.

The only consolation is that if the mine does go off, you won't know about it. You will be obliterated in a flash.

Now imagine that what you are looking for is a mine packed with enough explosives to sink a battleship.

Your job is to disarm the mine or rig it so that you can retreat to a safe distance and blow it up.

Those who placed the mine don't want you to do that and have booby-trapped it so that the slightest tremor will set it off.

Your fingers touch the hard shell of the mine. You trace the mine's outline and find the entry plate. Ever so gently, you unscrew the plate and carefully insert your fingers to find the detonator wires. You have the wires in your hand - now which one to cut ?

You can't even see which wire is red and which is blue. Welcome to the world of the elite Australian navy clearance diver.

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