Wednesday September 13, 2006
Phnom Penh - Two Cambodian teenage brothers were killed when an anti-tank mine they were trying to salvage for scrap exploded, police said Wednesday. Kang Sokha, the deputy chief of police for Kom Pongror district in eastern Prey Veng province said brothers Seng Samoun, 14, and Seng Samon, 16, stumbled on the mine while out walking in the fields with a friend and decided they could defuse it and sell the metal casing for scrap.
"Their older friend who was with them warned them not to touch it but Samoun kept poking it with a stick and it exploded," Sokha said by telephone.
"We can't tell what sort of mine it was because the explosion was so massive. It left a 10 meter crater and the boys' bodies were completely blown apart."
Cambodia remains littered with unexploded bombs and landmines after nearly 30 years of civil war. Despite concerted government and non-government campaigns warning them of the dangers, poverty tempts many people to risk it in an attempt to salvage the valuable metal, and casualties are common.
Sokha said the incident occured last Friday but that news of the tragedy had been slow to reach the rest of the country from the remote area.
"Their older friend who was with them warned them not to touch it but Samoun kept poking it with a stick and it exploded," Sokha said by telephone.
"We can't tell what sort of mine it was because the explosion was so massive. It left a 10 meter crater and the boys' bodies were completely blown apart."
Cambodia remains littered with unexploded bombs and landmines after nearly 30 years of civil war. Despite concerted government and non-government campaigns warning them of the dangers, poverty tempts many people to risk it in an attempt to salvage the valuable metal, and casualties are common.
Sokha said the incident occured last Friday but that news of the tragedy had been slow to reach the rest of the country from the remote area.
1 comment:
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http://sacrava.blogspot.com/2006/09/learning-art-of-giving-begging.html#comments
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