PHNOM PENH, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- An expert team of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) has found and safely removed a war-left U.S.-made MK-82 aerial bomb in southern Kandal province, a mine clearance chief said on Thursday.

The CMAC's Director-General Heng Ratana said the bomb had been spotted in a pit in Taben village, Roleang Kaen commune of Kandal Stueng district.

"Today, the CMAC's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) experts safely removed and transported an aerial bomb typed MK-82 with a total weight of around 230 kg to the CMAC's disposal center," he wrote on social media, with photographs showing an expert defusing the bomb.

Cambodia is one of the countries worst affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERWs). An estimated 4 million to 6 million landmines and other munitions had been left over from three decades of war and internal conflicts that ended in 1998.

According to the Yale University, from October 1965 to August 1973, the United States had dropped over 2.75 million tons of ordnance in 230,516 sorties on 113,716 sites in Cambodia.

A Cambodian official report showed that from 1979 to 2024, landmine and ERW explosions had claimed 19,834 lives and maimed 45,252 others in the Southeast Asian country. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)