An anti-personnel mine was found and defused near the ticketing area to the Angkor Archaeological Park. The mine was found in a forested area, away from the public and its discovery is puzzling. The Angkor Archaeological Park has been extensively de-mined and there have been no recent incidents of UXO detonating in the Angkor Park area.
Mine found near Angkor Wat
Phnom Penh Post, 19August 2015
A Russian-made anti-personnel mine was found less than 100 metres away from the ticket booths of the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Riep province yesterday, though authorities said it posed no threat to the public.
According to Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) director-general Heng Ratana, the Soviet OZM-4 mine is a war relic from the 1980s that lacked the ability to detonate in the state it was found.
“It could not explode unless we attached a strong wire tether to the small lifting charge of the mine and then someone stepped on the wire,” he said yesterday.
Another demining expert who had seen the device but spoke on condition of anonymity concurred that the device could not have been detonated, but added that its “new” appearance meant it was unlikely to have spent years in exposed conditions or to have been missed during clearance operations.
Full story here.
