Story By: Simon Glover, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

A grandmother and her 10-year-old grandson have been killed after they found a landmine dating back nearly half a century and tried to break it up for scrap metal.

Phorng Sophy, 65, had been looking for something she could sell because she wanted to buy some cakes for her grandson Khuon Panha .

They found the landmine buried near their home in the Sambuor commune in the Svay Teap district of south-eastern Cambodia’s Svay Rieng Province.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

They took the old explosive device, dating back to the Cambodian Civil War which ended in 1975, to their home where Ms Sophy tried to break it up to sell for its scrap metal value.

But Koeut Sophal, the chief of the district’s judicial police bureau, said the landmine exploded killing the woman and her grandson instantly. 

He said: “The bomb was buried underground. She unearthed it and took the metal home to beat into shape and sell as scrap. 

“The bomb exploded as she hit it, killing her and her grandson. The bomb was a remnant of the civil war.”

The pair had been home alone at the time and nobody else was injured. Local police officers found their bodies after hearing the explosion.

Ms Sophy had died as a result of shrapnel injuries to her chest and thigh while her grandson suffered a fatal head injury.

Cambodia is one of the heaviest mined countries in the world following the Cambodian Civil War which began in January 1968 and ended with victory for the Khmer Rouge in April 1975.

An estimated 10 million landmines were buried in the country with an estimated one in five villages still believed to be affected by minefields.

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