When entering and exiting the forest in the former war zone, please be careful because even the farmlands where people are living have been affected by landmines in early 2025.
According to a statement by Mr. Heng Ratana, Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), in early 2025, unexploded ordnance and landmines have killed three people in the northwestern region of the country. Including two personnel who are currently carrying out mine clearance operations while they are carrying out mine clearance operations to liberate rice fields of people in Trapaing Pri village, Bak Anlung commune, Trapaing Prasat district, Oddar Meanchey province.
He continued that while the CIMAC mine clearance forces are mourning the death of Col. Pov Nepin and Mr. Oeun Channara, mine clearance specialists of the CIMAC unit in Oddar Meanchey province Another citizen who lost his life was killed while driving a vehicle to harvest cassava in his cassava field in Kon Phnom Duong village, Ta Sda commune, Sampov Lun district, Battambang province at around 3 pm on January 17, 2025.
Cambodia is one of the countries most affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war. It is estimated that Cambodia may have between 4 million and 6 million landmines and other unexploded ordnance left over from three decades of civil war.
The mines are believed to have been laid by parties to the conflict, most in the northwest, to the point where some may be buried at great depths and may be brought to the surface at dangerous levels by natural phenomena such as rainfall or by the activities of people who accidentally dig them up.
In addition to landmines and other munitions left behind by the warring parties, according to Yale University in the United States, between 1965 and 1973, the United States is believed to have dropped an estimated 230,516 bombs on 113,716 locations in Cambodia. So we should be careful.
A mine clearance officer in the Battambang region said that some farmlands, especially in the former Sam Phum area, even though people have been farming them for years, can still be dangerous because these farmlands are cleared or cleared by people themselves without the right skills or equipment.
He continued that some mines are buried deep enough that some mine clearance devices cannot detect the signal, but they can come up accidentally due to any factor. So when it has the force to press its weight, it can explode.
He stated that “Don’t neglect mines and unexploded ordnance, they still threaten our lives all the time.”
According to records from 1979 to 2024, mines and remnants of war have claimed the lives of 19,834 people and injured a total of 45,252 people.
In total, although Cambodia achieved complete peace in 1998, the shadow of mines still exists. and poses a serious threat to human life and the efforts to restore and rebuild the livelihoods of citizens every day.
