A border police officer is set to have his right leg amputated today after stepping on a land mine while on patrol with his battalion in Oddar Meanchey province on Wednesday.
Eang Sodon, 27, was patrolling the Cambodia-Thailand border at about 8 a.m. when he stepped on a K58 anti-personnel mine and gravely injured his right leg, according to Soeurm Pnoek, deputy commander of Border Police Battalion 905.
Mr. Pnoek added that Mr. Sodon, who was sent for treatment at a hospital in Thailand’s Surin province, is scheduled to have his leg amputated from the knee down today.
Mr. Pnoek said the battalion had been patrolling the area to prevent illegal construction there, despite being aware of the presence of land mines.
“There are a lot of anti-personnel land mines along the border,” Mr. Pnoek said. “It’s the risk we face when we patrol there.”
He added that days of rain had softened the ground and increased the risk of triggering land mines, and said he intended to wait at least four days for the ground to dry before resuming patrols.
