Unknown event in Prey Veng, Mekong River, Peam Ro area, Cambodia on Mon 3rd July 2023

Cambodian Mines Action Centre (CMAC) deminers recently salvaged more than 10,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) along with more than 100 tonnes of metal wreckage from a sunken ship lying at the bottom of the Mekong River in Peam Ro district of Prey Veng province. CMAC Director-General Heng Ratana said yesterday that deminers began salvaging bullets and UXO from the ammunition transport vessel lying on the bottom of the Mekong River in Peam Ro district since May 15 last year. Ratana said that as of June this year, CMAC’s deminers recovered many types of UXO along with fragments of the wrecked ship. The total weight of the salvaged material totalled more than 100 tonnes. “Up to now, the Mission on Clearance of UXO and Sunken Barges under the Mekong River in Prey Veng has reached almost 50% and is still progressing,” Ratana said. “According to the plan, the operation to remove the UXO and the wreckage will take 18 months. But the operation will probably take longer due to the difficulty of the operating situation compounded by the lack of equipment for mud pumping,” he said. “On the other hand, we have already recovered large quantities of UXO and pieces of wreckage scattered on the bottom of the Mekong River because the ammunition carrier did not sink accidentally, but was bombed by planes first. It exploded, so the old ammunition and weapons loaded in the ship were scattered over the riverbed,” he added. Ratana said that this was the third ammunition ship found in Peam Ro district. He added that according to research by the Underwater Explosive Ordnance Disposal Committee, the ammunition ship belonged to Lon Nol regime’s soldiers and was destroyed by Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the 1970s. He added that the ship was loaded with more than 800 tonnes of weapons and ammunition. He noted that during the civil war in the 1970s, Lon Nol’s regime may have shipped up to 60,000 tonnes of ammunition along the river each month.