A 10-year-old girl was killed instantly when a piece of unexploded ordinance (UXO) detonated under the heat of a brush fire in in Kompong Speu province’s Oral district on Sunday afternoon, her commune chief said Monday.
Trapaing Chor commune chief Phong Thy said the girl was fishing and collecting frogs from a stream in the forest with two other young children when they noticed a small fire had broken out.
“When they saw a fire, the victim stood alone and tried to put out the fire, but the other two were separated,” Mr. Thy said.
“However, at the location where the victim stood, there was a UXO and the fire made the UXO heat up until it exploded…. The victim died immediately, and it was lucky the other two were not close to the victim.”
The commune chief said there was a sign in the forested area warning that it has not been cleared of UXOs but villagers regularly ignored it.
“Villagers need this location every day to do farming and fishing, so I hope after this has happened they will stop passing [the signed area],” Mr. Thy said.
