Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

This is the German tourist who has been killed after a landmine exploded in Myanmar as he was riding a motorbike with a woman from Argentina.

The accident took place near the city of Hsipaw, a popular hiking area for tourists who often travel from the city of Mandalay by train to reach the mountains.

Tim Geibler, 40, of German nationality, and an Argentine woman named in reports as Maria del Carmen Piombo, 39, were reportedly hit by a landmine explosion as they travelled on a motorbike through the state of Shan.

Geibier was reportedly killed while Piombo suffered minor injuries to her leg and arm. She is currently hospitalised in the hospital of Hsipaw, in north-western Shan.

The area is said to have anti-personnel landmines from the ongoing conflict between the Myanmar armed forces and guerrilla groups from various ethnic groups.

According to a local police officer, the pair were in a banned area for tourists at the time.

A source from the Argentine Embassy said: “The Argentine Embassy in Thailand is attending to her and are in permanent contact with her. The German authorities are in charge of repatriating the body of the man who was accompanying her.”

Ko Myo, a member of the NGO Charity Without Borders, “villagers from the area called us and we went two cars to pick them up”.

Local media report Myanmar has not signed the international treaty against anti-personnel mines and was the only country whose army used the device in 2018, according to research published last week by the NGO Landmine Report.

The Myanmar conflict continues mainly in the states of Shan, Kachin and Arakan and Landime Report claim non-government forces also use anti-personnel mines.

The mines were reportedly responsible for the 430 deaths and injuries last year.

The nature of the relationship between the two victims is unclear.

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