SA KAEO — A Chinese national lost his leg after stepping on a land mine in a known danger zone near Thailand’s border with Cambodia, Thai military officials said Sunday, the latest incident highlighting persistent threats in disputed frontier areas where mine clearance operations remain incomplete.
Thai army forces and the 1st Humanitarian Mine Action Unit recovered an additional mine Saturday near Ban Nong Chan in Khok Sung district, Sa Kaeo province, where the 26-year-old Chinese man identified as Shi Jingui from Yunnan Province was injured.
The victim was transferred from Khok Sung Hospital to Aranyaprathet Hospital for surgery and is currently recovering, military officials said.
Army explosives experts identified the device as a PMN anti-personnel mine, an older model. They discovered a second PMN mine approximately 2 meters from the blast site.
The incident occurred in what authorities classify as a suspected hazardous area where mine clearance operations have been underway since November 11. Military units have cleared 16,453 square meters of a 288,457-square-meter zone, recovering 22 anti-personnel mines including 20 PMN mines, one POMZ-2 mine and one PMD-6M mine.
Army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Winthai Suvaree said the area where the incident took place, claimed by Thailand as part of Sa Kaeo province, “is contaminated with land mines that Thai authorities are in the process of clearing according to plan.”
A statement from the Chinese Embassy in Thailand did not name the victim but described him as being in stable condition.
The mine explosion comes after seven Thai soldiers were injured by land mines along the border this year. Land mine incidents earlier this year helped trigger five days of intense fighting in late July between Thai and Cambodian forces.
Disputes over the exact demarcation of the border have strained relations between the two countries for decades. Additional mine incidents injuring Thai troops have threatened a ceasefire that ended the brief July conflict.
In Saturday’s statement, the Thai army repeated previous accusations, saying “the abundance of evidence points to the continued use of new mines” by Cambodia. Both nations continue to exchange blame over responsibility for the mines, even as they are supposed to be cooperating on clearance operations.
Winthai said Cambodia “has not cooperated with Thailand in clearing mines along the shared border, despite Thailand’s repeated proposals in bilateral meetings.”
Nongrat Chanthama, a representative of residents from Ban Nong Chan and Ban Ang Sila villages who own land along the Thai-Cambodia border, said what border residents want most is completion of border demarcation so barriers can be built to prevent such incidents.
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