Family killed by UXO

Villagers and local officials help remove the body of El Bol, 45, who died along with two of his children after their buffalo-drawn cart ran over two landmines. 

A man and his two children were killed in Oddar Meanchey province on Tuesday after running over a pair of landmines in their buffalo-drawn cart, police said yesterday.

El Bol, 45, was traveling with his 13-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter on the cart, which was loaded with wood to build a new home. As they drove from the forest, a torrential downpour hit, loosening the dirt covering the UXO and making it susceptible to the weight of the cart, Keo Tan, the Trapaing Prasat district police chief, said.

The incident happened at about 1:30pm on Tuesday in an O’Svay commune community forest, only one kilometre from an old Khmer Rouge base, Tan said. “After the explosion, police went to the scene and found three dead bodies and a dead buffalo. There were many scattered fragments of the cart and tree branches,” he added.

Upon investigation, police found that the two mines had been stacked on top of each other, possibly in a deliberate attempt inflict damage on tanks.