Four people in Oddar Meanchey were injured yesterday morning after their tractor ran over a landmine.

Anlong Veng district police chief Keo Tann said the four – 32-year-old Pich Rem, 31-year-old Sun Sophal, 56-year-old Sam Nam and his son Sam San, 17 – were seriously injured and sent to the district hospital.

The accident occured when the quartet was transporting wooden planks to build a house and drove off the road onto a smaller side road as they headed to the construction site. The tracter was blown into two parts by the mine, which left a half-metre-deep hole, said Tann.

According to figures from the Cambodian Mine Action Center, 43 people were killed from unexploded ordnance and landmines last year.

In February, a widow in Kratie became the first reported UXO fatality of 2013.