Anti-tank mine blast kills tractor driver in western Cambodia: official
PHNOM PENH: A war-left anti-tank mine exploded on Tuesday (June 10), killing the driver of a tractor in western Cambodia's Pailin province, a mine clearance chief said.
Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, said the explosion happened at a date farm in O Dey Sa'eth village of Sala Krau district's Stueng Trang commune when the ill-fated man was operating a power tiller to plough a field for growing dates.
He said the tractor accidentally ran over the anti-tank landmine, triggering the explosion.
"The explosive remnants of war (ERWs) still continue to pose threats to the happiness and safety of the people, although the war has ended for more than 25 years," Ratana wrote in a Facebook post.
Cambodia is one of the countries worst affected by landmines and ERWs. An estimated four to six million landmines and other munitions had been left over from three decades of war and internal conflicts that ended in 1998.
According to Yale University, between 1965 and 1973, the United States dropped some 230,516 bombs on 113,716 sites in Cambodia.
A Cambodian official report showed that from 1979 to April 2025, landmine and ERW explosions had claimed 19,840 lives and maimed 45,264 others.
The South-East Asian country is committed to clearing all types of landmines and ERWs by 2030. - Xinhua
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