Explosions

Asoldier and a villager in Banteay Meanchey province were seriously injured in two separate incidents involving land mines on Friday, officials said Monday. Chhorm Veoun, a soldier based in Banteay Meanchey’s Thmar Puok district, lost his right leg after stepping on a land mine near the base of Phnom Prak as he searched for bamboo shoots. Koe Rin, commander for Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Military Region 5, said the soldier had just found a thicket of bamboo when the mine exploded. Chhorn Veoun was sent to Mongkol Borei district hospital, Koe Rin said. That same day, Suos Sam, a resident of Svay Chek district’s Punley village, suffered serious injuries to his hands and eyes when a mine exploded while he was hunting for agamid lizards, district Governor Khou Pov said. Khou Pov said Suos Sam had also been sent to Mongkol Borei district hospital. “His left hand and face are withered,” he said. Recent figures from the Cambodia Mine/ERW Victim Information System (CMVIS) showed that total casualties from land mines had dropped by 45 percent during the first quarter of the year.