A woman was taken to hospital in Thailand’s Trat province after walking on unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Pursat’s Veal Veng district yesterday.

Around 8am, Phean Sopheao, 37, who lives in Veal Veng district’s Thma Da commune, was walking in Pursat’s forest to gather flowers to sell in Thailand when she stepped on the UXO, said Cambodian Mine Action Centre official Pring Panha Rith.

Sopheao sustained a broken leg and has been blinded in one eye due to the explosion, he added.

“I think she did not walk on a mine, but she might have walked on a rocket-propelled grenade because the area is rich with it,” Rith said.

“The area is abundant with small mines left over by the civil war.”

According to him, Veal Veng district has the highest record of UXOs out of Pursat’s five districts.

The forest in particular, he said, had been a battlefield, and his demining unit had to withdraw from it for their safety as the rainy season has started and the paved road to the area has yet to be finished.