Camdodian civil war's anti-tank mine blast kills eight, injures one

Camdodian civil war's anti-tank mine blast kills eight, injures one
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea, Phnompenh post, 6 February 2012

Two anti-tank mines killed eight people instantly and ser­ious­ly injured another in Ban­teay Meanchey province’s Malai district on Friday, in the second such explosion this year, officials confirmed yesterday. 

Seam Hak, deputy manager of the Cambodian Mine Action Center’s demining unit, said the victims, who were farmers, were driving a motorised trailer on an unmarked road in O’Sampoar commune when they struck the anti-tank mine.

“Their bodies were cut into pieces and dispersed over a 50-metre radius,” Seam Hak said.

The road they were traveling on was 150 metres away from a mine-free road, he added.

The eight people killed included six women, ranging in age from 14 to 49, and two men, aged 15 and 45.

The sole survivor, 19-year-old Khem Kamsot, is now being treated at Mongkol Borei hospital.

The accident site is a former battle zone of the Khmer Rouge, densely populated with mines, Chan Kosal, the Banteay Mean­chey deputy police chief, said.

In recent years, he added, villagers have increasingly strayed from marked, mine-free roads in order to reach their cassava plantations. He urged villagers not to use new roads.