Cambodia sees 38% drop in landmine casualties in 6 months

Cambodia reported 65 landmine casualties in the first six months of the year, down 38 percent from the 104 casualties over the same period last year, showed the figures of the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC) on Friday. During the January-June period this year, eight people were killed and 57 were injured or amputated, while at the same period last year, 21 people were killed and 83 were injured or amputated, the figures said. According to the report, from 1979 to June this year, some 19, 670 people had been killed by landmines and 44,598 others were injured. The latest accident occurred on Tuesday in northwestern Oddor Meanchey province, killing a father and his two children. The accident happened when his wood-loaded buffalo cart ran onto an old anti-tank mine in a jungle. Cambodia is one of the world's worst countries suffered from landmines. An estimated 4 million to 6 million landmines and other munitions left over from three decades of war and internal conflicts that ended in 1998. Heng Ratana, CMAC's director general, said the country had cleared and destroyed about 3.1 million landmines and unexploded ordnances as of June this year. The country needs about 50 million U.S. dollars a year until 2020 to entirely get rid of all types of anti-personnel mines, he added.