Panicking parents rushed to remove their children from vacant land in Banteay Meanchey province yesterday after discovering what they thought were dumped bottles of gunpowder.

Poipet police chief Oum Sophal said villagers had stumbled upon the bottles and, fearing an explosion, alerted the authorities.

It turned out, however, that the villagers’ had gone off half-cocked – the bottled turned out to contain about 40 kilograms of milk powder and fertilisers.

“They were actually bottles of various milk powders and chemical fertilisers that are not usable and have been dumped by anonymous people,” Sophal said. “It’s not gunpowder because CMAC [Cambodian Mine Action Centre] has tested it.”

Nonetheless, the residents remained concerned and police destroyed the powder to ease their concerns, he added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Yuthana at [email protected]