Thousands of war-era explosives found buried in Cambodia school

Phnom Penh: More than 2,000 pieces of war-era unexploded ordnance (UXO) were found buried in a school campus in Cambodia’s Kratie province, an official said on Monday.

"Within a three-day period of operations on August 11-13 at the Queen Kosamak High School in Kratie province, Cambodian Mine Action Centre’s (CMAC) Remnants of War team has cleared 2,116 pieces of unexploded ordinances as the remnants of war," CMAC's director-general Heng Ratana said.

Those unearthed UXO included 2,033 M79 grenades, 63 DK75 rounds, 18 Fuze M48 shells, one H107 bullet, and one B40 bullet, he said.

"According to our experts at the site, there still be many more pieces of unexploded munitions within this area," Ratana said, adding that the school will be closed temporarily for a few more days for a clearance operation.

The explosive munitions were discovered after the school cleared land to expand a garden, he said.

Cambodia is one of the countries worst affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERWs), with an estimated 4 million to 6 million landmines and other munitions left over from three decades of internal conflicts and a US bombing campaign.

According to Yale University, between 1965 and 1973, the US had dropped around 230,516 bombs on 113,716 sites in Cambodia.

According to the government's latest report, from 1979 to June 2023, landmine and ERW explosions claimed 19,821 lives and either injured or amputated 45,205 others in Cambodia.

The Cambodian government has decided to clear all landmines and unexploded artillery by the year 2025.

With inputs from IANS