A nine-year-old boy from Preah Vihear lost his fingers and vision following a mortar fuse explosion, while in a separate incident, a Ratanakkiri man sustained severe injuries on some parts of his body in a homemade grenade blast, authorities of the two provinces said.
Preah Vihear’s Choam Ksan commune chief Sorn Tin told The Post on Monday that the boy had picked up an 80mm mortar fuse from the street while he was on the way home from school. At his grandmother’s house, the victim lit the fuse, causing it to explode.
The boy’s right eye, right leg and stomach were wounded by shattered pieces from the mortar and three fingers from his right hand were cut off, Tin said.
“Based on the preliminary [medical] result, the boy‘s right eye will be blind,” he said, noting that he has been hospitalised at the Siem Reap Referral Hospital since Monday.
Speaking to The Post on Monday, Chhorn Bun Chhoy, 36, said his son had lost three of his fingers and that he needed an eye surgery immediately.
“His doctor told me that his right eye will be blind because his pupil had been damaged by metal fragments. The wounds on his leg and stomach are not too serious, but the boy had lost three fingers,” Bun Chhoy said.
In Ratanakkiri province, an ethnic Jarai sustained severe injuries on the head and chest, and had his right wrist slit, after his homemade bomb went off.
O’Yadav district police chief Souy Samnang on Monday identified the victim as Pouy Yuch, 46, a resident of Dar Thom village in Yatung commune.
Before the accident, Samnang said, the man had filled a can with gunpowder that he gathered from six pieces of firecrackers. The do-it-yourself explosive was intended for fishing.
“The villagers who reported the accident to the police said Yuch’s right wrist was slit and his head and chest were wounded."
“After the local authority intervened, the victim was sent to a hospital in Vietnam. Until now [Monday], he has yet to return home,” Samnang said.
He said the authority has often warned people in the area of combustible risks of explosives such as firecrackers and gunpowder.
