A family is mourning two toddlers killed after an old grenade detonated near their home in Cambodia. The children, who were cousins, were playing outside at the time. Their family had no idea the grenades even existed because they were buried underground and out of sight.
The grenades were likely planted during a time of guerilla warfare. Many rural families moved in after the conflict, not even knowing that their lives could be in danger later down the line.
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The 2-year-old cousins were killed on February 22, 2025, in Kranhuong, a rural village in the Siem Reap province’s Svay Leu district, Heng Ratana, the director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center said in a Facebook post.
An eyewitness stated that the father of one of the toddlers killed was watching the children at the time. The grenade, which was unexploded, detonated while the children played. It is believed that the grenade is likely 25 years old, according to Ratana.
One of the children died on the spot. The other was pronounced dead later at the hospital. The Associated Press reported that the children were a girl named Muo Lisa and a boy named Thum Yen.
The news agency gave more context to the origin of the grenades. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was heavy fighting in the province between the Cambodian government soldiers and rebel guerrillas from the communist Khmer Rouge. The communist regime was ousted in 1979.
“The war is completely over and complete peace has been over 25 years, but the blood of Khmer descendants is still flowing due to the debris of landmines and war bombs!!” Ratana said in the Facebook post.
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According to experts from the CMAC, the fragments of the grenade showed it was a 66mm rocket grenade.
“Their parents went to settle on land that was a former battlefield, and they were not aware that there were any land mines or unexploded ordinance buried near their homes,” Ratana said in a statement shared by the AP. “It’s a pity because they were too young and they should not have died like this.”
