Cambodia sees rise in landmine/UXO casualties in 1st 4 months

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has recorded 47 landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) casualties in the first four months of 2019, up 96 percent compared with 24 casualties over the same period last year, said an official report on Thursday.

 

During the January-April period this year, eight people were killed, up from only five deaths over the same period last year, said the report of the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA).

 

It added that 39 others were either injured or limps amputated during the first four months of this year, up from merely 19 over the same period last year.

 

“Seventy-seven percent of the victims was men, 19 percent was boys, and 4 percent was women,” the report said.

 

Cambodia is one of the most landmine-affected countries in the world. An estimated four to six million landmines and other munitions were left over from nearly three decades of war that ended in 1998.

 

According to the report, landmine and UXO explosions had killed 19,776 people and either injured or amputated 45,049 others from 1979 to April 2019.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said in February that it was estimated that mines, explosive remnants of war and cluster bombs are still scattered over the area of 1,970 square km in Cambodia.

 

He said the Southeast Asian nation is seeking about 406 million U.S. dollars in aid to clear all types of the munitions by 2025.

 

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-05/16/c_138063789.htm

 

[Katipo]

So Cambodia is seeking $406m to clear landmines that they themselves put there? Well, the Khmer Rouge did, which their current deep pocketed PM was a part of.

 

For anyone wondering, the upswing in forest clearance for farming is the primary reason for the increased number of people getting blown up.

 

Like in many developing countries, it's quality leadership that'll fix the problems, not throwing money at them.

 

 

[Dionigi]

In Laos the locals search out the left over ordinance and clean out the explosives to sell the steel as scrap(probably the explosives as well). I used to see small kids wander off into the jungle, with a homemade mine detector under their arm, their parents used to drop them off from motorcycles.

[Hanuman2547]

Does the PM and his former cadres in the Khmer Rouge have any other ideas other than to beg the international community to solve the problem that they created?

[Elkski]

4-6 million?  Wow.  Removing 10,000/ mo is 54 years?   How stupid are us human's.    What a tragedy.