A man lost one of his legs on Friday after stepping on an anti-personnel mine while he and a friend were hunting turtledoves in the jungle near the border between Cambodia and Thailand, local officials confirmed.
Kob Man, 47, and his neighbour, both of whom are from Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet town, were hunting in forest near the K-5 dam when Man stepped on the mine and lost his leg, said Keo Bora, a border police official at the Prey Kum crossing.
“When they heard the explosion, the authorities went into the forest and saw the victim lying on the ground with one of his legs blown off. His friend was bandaging him to prevent loss of blood,” Bora said. “The authorities intervened and sent him to Banteay Meanchey Provincial Hospital.”
According to Bora, the local jungle is still filled with mines that date back to the civil war era. Shortly after the Khmer Rouge’s fall, the controversial K-5 plan saw the government seed the border with thousands of mines in an attempt to curtail remnants of the regime’s cross-border movements.
Warning signs are placed throughout the area, but the villagers often do not pay attention to the signs, Bora said.
