A teenage boy was killed and a young man was seriously wounded while playing with cluster bombs they found in a field while tending cattle in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district yesterday, police said.

Thirteen-year-old Koeun Vutha was killed and 22-year-old Sdeung Makara’s hands were wounded and his chest hit with shrapnel after the five bombs exploded at about 3pm, Dangkor district police Bourn Sam Ath said.

The pair were grazing cattle in the field when they found the bombs and did not know they were unexploded ordinance, Bourn Sam Ath said. They tied the bombs to a string used to lead cattle and began dragging them behind them, he said.

Koeun Vutha died in the field and Sdeung Makara is receiving treatment at a private clinic in Chom Chao commune, Bourn Sam Ath said.

Police found 16 more unexploded bombs in the field, which they said were more than 30 years old.  “To avoid this happening again, I am appealing to villagers to educate their children about the danger of mines and unexploded ordnance,” he said.