Four Soldiers Poisoned by Mushroom Soup

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
03 August 2009

Three soldiers died and one became seriously ill after eating potentially poisonous mushrooms picked near the temple of Preah Vihear, where a border dispute with Thailand continues, military officials said Monday.

The first death took place on July 27, followed by one on July 29 and one on July 30. The fourth soldier remains hospitalized in Siem Reap.

Chea Mon, commander of Division 4, said the men cooked and ate unknown mushrooms in a soup a few days prior to the deaths.

“We tried to cure them, but we couldn’t help, because they ate a lot of poisonous mushrooms,” he said.

The deceased soldiers were identified as Ros Mao, 30, So Rim, 32, and Sing Roeun, 34. Yoeun Be, 30, remains in the hospital.

The soldiers were stationed near Preah Vihear temple, where an ongoing border dispute has meant the mobilization of thousands of soldiers over the past year.

Srey Douk, commander of the armed forces in the Preah Vihear operation, said his soldiers had plenty of food to eat, thanks to donations, and he warned other soldiers against eating unknown mushrooms scavenged from the forest.

Three Cambodian soldiers die after eating poisonous mushrooms

Mon, 03 Aug 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Three Cambodian soldiers died and one was left seriously ill after the group ate poisonous mushrooms picked near an 11th-century temple at the centre of an ongoing border dispute with neighboring Thailand, national media reported Monday. Military officials said the men were hospitalized July 24, hours after eating the unknown type of mushrooms in a soup while stationed several kilometres from the Preah Vihear temple, The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported.

One man died July 27, another died Tuesday and a third died Thursday, said Mas Yoeun, the army's deputy commander in Preah Vihear.

The fourth man remained hospitalized in the northern city of Siem Reap, he said.

"They did not receive enough treatment or the district clinic was careless with them, and I think that they kept them for three days without giving them the medicine and they became seriously ill," Mas Yoeun said.

He said soldiers were last week instructed not to eat any more mushrooms collected in the area, which has been the site of two skirmishes between Cambodia and Thailand since July 2008, which killed two Cambodian and two Thai soldiers.

The clashes have strained relations between Thailand and Cambodia, both of which claim land surrounding the temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was granted to Cambodia in a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling.

The temple has been at the centre of disputed claims between Thailand and Cambodia since the 1950s.