Four chemical bombs were discovered over the weekend in Cambodia’s Svay Rieng Province, where a de-mining group was already in the process of removing two other Vietnam War-era ordnances, local media reported on Monday.
“According to witnesses, they have four chemical bombs at four sites in Traving village,” Heng Ratana, Director of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), said.
The U.S. dropped upwards of 2.7 million tonnes of bombs in Cambodia during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s.
Many of these ordnances did not explode and continue to kill scores of people each year and injure many others.
The latest bombs were discovered in the Koki commune, where CMAC teams were already working to remove two U.S.-made tear gas bombs and where eight villagers were hospitalised last week, following exposure to chemicals inside the bombs.
According to Deputy Chief at Taving village, En Ra, whose cousin was among the eight villagers, the injured have all returned home.
“He dug up this piece of the bomb himself, and seven other people inhaled it.
“They stood a long way from him, around 50 metres away, but the chemical poured out,” Ra said according to local media reports. (dpa/NAN)

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