A man died and another was hospitalised on Wednesday evening when they accidentally detonated an unexploded bomb in Oddar Meanchey’s Banteay Ampil district.

Khoun Sreysros, Thmar Daun village chief, identified the deceased as Mao Savong, 25, and his friend, Pann Boeur, 39, who sustained serious injuries to his legs, head and eyes. Both victims are village border police officials.

“We took the corpse to celebrate the funeral at [Savong’s] home last night, but this morning, the villagers, authorities and the victim’s family returned to collect the remaining debris that was left at the scene, because his body was fully destroyed,” Sreysros said, adding “this is a very sad accident”.

Reportedly, children found the device by a tree, and the victims intended to bring it to the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC), but Savong stumbled as he carried the bomb, causing the explosion.

“We often tell villagers to stay away from unexploded devices or leave them . . . because we do not know whether they still work . . . and inform authorities,” she said.

According to Sreysros, there are many UXO in the village as it was a war zone during the Pol Pot regime.

A report from CMAC indicated 66 landmine and bomb victims from January to June this year, a decrease of 35 per cent from the same period in 2014.