風蕭蕭_Frank
以文會友
柬埔寨一高中擴建花圃 竟挖出千枚未爆彈
英國衛報報導，柬埔寨東北部桔井省（Kratie）一所高中擴建花圃時，意外發現2000多枚內戰遺留彈藥，包括手榴彈及榴彈發射器，目前已緊急關閉校園，進行挖掘清查作業。
柬埔寨排雷行動中心（Cambodian Mine Action Centre）總幹事拉塔那（Heng Ratana）13日表示，該校位於內戰時期軍事基地，“學生非常幸運，這些彈藥很容易爆炸，挖掘時一不小心就可能全麵引爆。”
柬埔寨內戰自1975年結束至今逾50年，目前仍是世上最多未爆彈和地雷的國家之一。據統計，自1979年來，柬埔寨各處散落地雷已造成6.4萬人死亡、2.5萬人截肢；過去4年，近2萬人因誤踩引爆地雷而喪命。
時至今日，柬埔寨仍致力排雷，當局更矢言2025年前全麵清除地雷和未爆彈。
Cambodia school closed after thousands of civil war-era explosives found on site
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/14/cambodia-school-closed-after-thousands-of-civil-
More than 1,000 grenades found on land being cleared to expand garden of school in Kratie province, mine clearing organisation says
Deminers discovered more than 2,000 explosives, including more than 1,000 M79 grenades, inside the grounds of a high school in Kratie province over three days, said Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre on Sunday.
He told AFP the explosive remnants were found after the school cleared land to expand a garden. “The school has been closed temporarily,” Heng Ratana said.
‘Everywhere is broken’: how land grabs in Cambodia are demolishing lives
Decades after the brutal conflict and a US bombing campaign starting in the 1960s, the country remains among the most heavily bombed and mined in the world.
Images showed some of the masses of dug-up explosives, rusted over and stacked in rows. “It is a huge stroke of luck for the students. These explosive devices are easy to explode if someone dug into the ground and hit them,” he said.
A deminer standing next to some of the ordnance uncovered at the school in north-east Kratie province. Photograph: Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CM/AFP/Getty Images
The site was a military station during the war, he added, and an operation to clear the grounds would probably uncover more.
Cambodia’s civil war lasted until 1975, with the US and what was then North and South Vietnam backing various sides.
The effects of the US bombing campaign and minefields left behind have long been felt in tragic ways, with roughly 20,000 Cambodians killed over the last four decades after stepping on landmines or bombs.
Clearance work continues to this day, with the government vowing to clear all mines and unexploded ordnance by 2025.
