Phnom Penh, Nov 17 (DPA) An anti-tank mine exploded under a truck in western Cambodia killing all 14 people aboard, a de-mining official said Wednesday.
Chhiv Lim, project manager at the Cambodia Mines/ERW Victim Information System, said details of Tuesday’s incident in Battambang province were still unclear.
‘The people were coming back from farming to their village in the truck when it ran over the anti-tank mine,’ he said.
‘Among the 14 killed were some children, but we don’t know how many,’ he said.
Earlier Wednesday, the de-mining project said 53 people were killed and 181 injured by mines and unexploded ordnance during the first 10 months of the year, up 13 percent from a year earlier.
More than 60 percent of this year’s casualties were men. Boys comprise around a quarter of victims, mostly from playing with unexploded ordnance.
Cambodia was one of the most heavily mined nations in the world. Over half of this year’s accidents took place in the far western region.
More than 63,700 people have been killed or injured in Cambodia by explosives since the ouster of the Khmer Rouge government in 1979.
