Cambodia reports 143 landmine casualties in 11 months last year

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia reported 143 landmine casualties in the first 11 months in 2014, a 36 percent rise from 105 casualties over the same period in 2013.

Despite the surge in casualties, the number of the dead dropped to 18 during the January-November period last year, down from 21 deaths over the same period in a year earlier, the figure of the Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority said Saturday.

The number of the injured increased to 125 during the eleven months last year, up from 84 over the same period in a year earlier.

"Seventy percent of the victims were men, 18 percent were boys, 4 percent were women and 8 percent were girls," the figure showed.

It added that from 1979 to November 2014, landmines and explosive remnants of war had killed 19,702 people and injured 44, 755 others.

Cambodia is one of the countries in the world that suffer the worst from mines. An estimated 4 million to 6 million landmines and other munitions have left over from three decades of war that ended in 1998.

The country needs approximately 50 million U.S. dollars a year to clear all types of anti-personnel mines by 2020, according to Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/150117/cambodia-reports-143-landmine-casualties-11-months-last-year