UXO accident

Three Kampong Cham province farmers suffered mild to serious injuries when a B40 rocket they dug up exploded.

The three men were picking rubber tree plants on a plantation in Tbong Khmum district’s Veal Vong village on Wednesday when one of them found the live rocket in the soil, said Khoun Kanthab, Tbong Khmum district’s deputy police chief.

“They were careless, and threw the B40 playfully at each other,” Kanthab said. “It is a remnant of war and it was buried in a plantation, but when they ploughed, it emerged with the soil.”

Pon Chreay, 22, suffered minor injuries, but the blast seriously injured Pon Sophat, 30, and Try Thiduong, 27, Kanthab said. All three men were taken to the provincial hospital in Kandal for emergency treatment.

Between January and April the Cambodian Mine Action Centre collected a total of 40,315 unexploded ordnance, said Oum Phumro, deputy general of CMAC.