Latest news with #CambodianMineActionCentre
The Star
11-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Anti-tank mine blast kills tractor driver in western Cambodia: official
FILE PHOTO: This photo taken on February 11, 2025 shows a deminer from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre examining an unexploded ordnance that was unearthed by a worker during irrigation work in Svay Rieng province. - AFP PHNOM PENH: A war-left anti-tank mine exploded on Tuesday (June 10), killing the driver of a tractor in western Cambodia's Pailin province, a mine clearance chief said. Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, said the explosion happened at a date farm in O Dey Sa'eth village of Sala Krau district's Stueng Trang commune when the ill-fated man was operating a power tiller to plough a field for growing dates. He said the tractor accidentally ran over the anti-tank landmine, triggering the explosion. "The explosive remnants of war (ERWs) still continue to pose threats to the happiness and safety of the people, although the war has ended for more than 25 years," Ratana wrote in a Facebook post. Cambodia is one of the countries worst affected by landmines and ERWs. An estimated four to six million landmines and other munitions had been left over from three decades of war and internal conflicts that ended in 1998. According to Yale University, between 1965 and 1973, the United States dropped some 230,516 bombs on 113,716 sites in Cambodia. A Cambodian official report showed that from 1979 to April 2025, landmine and ERW explosions had claimed 19,840 lives and maimed 45,264 others. The South-East Asian country is committed to clearing all types of landmines and ERWs by 2030. - Xinhua
The Star
13-05-2025
- General
- The Star
Cambodian Mine Action Centre destroys 120 cluster bomblets in Ratanakiri controlled explosion
The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) destroyed more than 100 cluster munitions in Ratanakiri province on May 12. - Photo: CMAC PHNOM PENH: A total of 120 cluster munitions, remnants from previous wars in the Kingdom, were destroyed in a controlled explosion by experts from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) in Ratanakiri province's O'Chum district on Monday (May 12). The 'bomblets' were destroyed in a cashew plantation in Kamen Thom village, in Samakki commune. According to CMAC, the cluster munitions were from a CBU-25/A air-dropped bomb, typically containing 132 bomblets. During Monday's operation, 120 of them were determined to remain capable of exploding. CMAC reported that a farmer discovered the munitions buried approximately one metre deep on his farm, and informed the centre immediately. 'Due to the unsafe condition of the bomblets, which could not be safely defused or transported, the only option was to destroy them on-site. This on-site destruction caused some damage to a number of cashew trees, but the plantation owner can now enjoy peace and safety, free from the ongoing threat of these munitions,' said CMAC, in a social media post. The 120 cluster munitions were likely all from a single CBU-25/A bomb, dropped from a US aircraft. - Photo: CMAC The demining unit expressed gratitude to the owner of the cashew plantation for their full cooperation. Between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s, Cambodia was subjected to heavy bombing, with more tonnage dropped by the US than by the allies' combined efforts in World War Two. According to CMAC director-general Heng Ratana, it is estimated that during this period, some three million tonnes of bombs, including approximately 30 million cluster munitions, were dropped on more than 10,000 targets across the Kingdom. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
Khaleej Times
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Two Cambodian toddlers killed in old grenade blast
Two Cambodian toddlers died when a rocket-propelled grenade believed buried since the country's civil war blew up near their homes, an official said on Sunday. The explosion happened on Saturday in a remote village in northwestern Siem Reap province that was once a battle site for Cambodian government soldiers and Khmer Rouge fighters in the 1980s and 1990s. The children who died were cousins — a boy and a girl who were both two years old. "According to an investigation report, the two toddlers were playing on the ground, digging the soil and may have hit (the grenade) with an object that caused the explosion," Heng Ratana, director general of the government's Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), told AFP. He said one child was killed instantly while another died in hospital. "The war has completely ended and there has been peace for more than 25 years, but the blood of Cambodian people continues to flow because of landmines and the remnants of war," Heng Ratana added. The accident comes after Cambodia was forced to partially suspend demining operations for several weeks when Washington suddenly halted funding following President Donald Trump's order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days. But on Friday, Cambodian officials said deminers were to resume clearing unexploded munitions, after the United States granted a waiver to keep funding the work in the country. The Southeast Asian nation remains littered with discarded ammunition and arms from decades of war starting in the 1960s. After more than 30 years of civil war ended in 1998, Cambodia was left as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Deaths from mines and unexploded ordnance are still common, with around 20,000 fatalities since 1979, and twice that number wounded. Last month, two Cambodian deminers were killed while trying to remove a decades-old anti-tank mine from a rice field and a villager died in a landmine blast on his farm. More than 1,600 sqkm of contaminated land still needs to be cleared which leaves approximately a million Cambodians affected by war remnants. Cambodia had aimed to be mine-free by 2025, but the government pushed the deadline back by five years because of funding challenges and new landmine fields found along the Thai border.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cambodia to resume demining after US aid waiver
Cambodian deminers are to resume operations to clear unexploded munitions, after the United States granted a waiver to keep funding the work in the country, officials said on Friday. Cambodia remains littered with unexploded bombs, many of which were dropped by American forces during the Vietnam War. Cambodia was forced to partially suspend demining operations from late January after Washington suddenly halted funding following President Donald Trump's order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days. Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), told AFP on Friday that the US had granted a conditional waiver for funding to partner organisations supporting Cambodia's demining projects. He said he had sent deminers, who had been standing down for the past several weeks, back to the field and that operations to clear unexploded munitions would resume on Monday. "We are happy to resume our mission to save lives," Keo Sarath, manager of CMAC's demining unit 5 headquarters, which is responsible for clearing along eastern provinces bordering Vietnam. The United States has been a "key partner" and provided around $10 million a year to fund mine clearance in Cambodia. Ly Thuch, a senior government minister and leading official in Cambodia's Mine Action Authority, confirmed the US embassy had informed the foreign ministry about the continuation of demining funding. He said deminers would soon be able to resume full-scale operations. During the Vietnam War, then-US president Richard Nixon ordered a clandestine bombing campaign over large swathes of Laos and Cambodia, which helped fuel the rise of the Khmer Rouge. After more than 30 years of civil war ended in 1998, Cambodia was left as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Deaths from the war remnants are still common, with around 20,000 people killed since 1979, and twice that number wounded. More than 1,600 square kilometres (620 square miles) of contaminated land still needs to be cleared in Cambodia. Cambodia had aimed to be mine-free by 2025, but the government pushed the deadline back by five years because of funding challenges and new landmine fields found along the Thai border. suy/pdw/fox
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cambodian farmers risk lives for rice as US freezes demining aid
Eleven-year-old Yeat Saly lies in a hospital bed, a piece of shrapnel lodged in his forehead -- one of the many injuries inflicted by an old mortar he found near his village in Cambodia. Parts of the kingdom are still littered with unexploded ordnance from decades of conflict, but US President Donald Trump's decision to freeze virtually all American aid has forced many long-running projects to clear the deadly debris to grind a halt. Villagers now fear for themselves and their children unless a way is found to keep removing the leftover landmines, mortars and other lethal munitions scattered across the countryside. Yeat Saly was herding his cows outside his village in Tboung Khmum province on February 5 when he found a metal object by a rubber tree. "I thought it was just a piece of metal. I threw it, then it exploded into a ball of flame," he told AFP from a hospital bed. "A piece of shrapnel is still in here," he said, touching his forehead. He is receiving treatment for injuries to both his legs and body at a hospital in Tboung Khmum. "I was so frightened, my ears could not hear anything. Blood was spraying from my forehead, and I rode a motorbike (back home) with one hand blocking the blood," he said. - Deadly US legacy - Much of Cambodia's unexploded ordnance is a legacy of US operations during the Vietnam War. Then-president Richard Nixon ordered a clandestine bombing campaign over swathes of Laos and Cambodia, which helped fuel the rise of the Khmer Rouge. After more than 30 years of civil war ended in 1998, Cambodia was left as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Injuries and deaths from war remnants are still common, with around 65,000 casualties, including 20,000 people killed, since 1979. The annual additions to that count have fallen dramatically in recent years thanks to clearance programs, but more than 1,600 square kilometres (620 square miles) of contaminated land still need to be demined. In recognition of American responsibility for causing the problem, Washington has been a key partner in Cambodia's mine clearance, providing around $10 million a year in funding. But Trump's 90-day freeze on virtually all foreign aid has forced many demining operations in Cambodia to stop, according to officials. Deminers in eastern Cambodia have suspended work to clear UXOs and cluster bombs, even as requests for removals have grown. "We have received a pile of requests, and we could not respond to them. We are so upset," Moch Sokheang, who has been a deminer for 16 years. "We worry that when villagers go into the forests, dig land to grow their crops, they may trigger explosions or children may play with them when they go herding cows," the 36-year-old added. Cambodian demining authorities say more than 1,000 deminers and experts have been affected by the aid freeze. Days after Trump's announcement, China -- Cambodia's close ally -- pledged $4.4 million to fund mine clearance activities. But the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) said that aid was "not a substitute" for US funding. - 'So worried' - Farmers in eastern Svay Reing province told AFP they must keep working their fields despite the risks. Mao Saroeun said he was "unhappy" that deminers had been forced to suspend a search in his rice field where many US bombs fell. "I know (about UXOs) but our livelihood is poor so we keep farming rice in UXO fields," Mao Saroeun said. Cambodia had aimed to be mine-free by 2025, but the government pushed the deadline back by five years because of funding challenges and new landmine fields found along the Thai border. The loss of US funding is a further setback. "The aid freeze will cause more accidents... A lot of UXOs are still littered around," Keo Sarath, manager of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre's demining unit 5 headquarters, told AFP. In Banteay Kraing village in Svay Rieng province, AFP journalists saw a rusty mortar left between tree trunks with police tape around the site to warn people away. Villager Som Khatna told AFP that her husband unearthed the bomb last month when he dug a pit to lay the foundation for a house. "I am so worried that children would come and play with it," said the 59-year-old grandmother. suy/pdw/lb
