Two 2-year-old cousins were killed by a grenade that detonated in a rural region of Cambodia that was previously plagued with conflict.
The decades-old explosive killed the toddlers, one boy and one girl, on Saturday, Feb. 22, after it blew up near their homes in northwestern Cambodia, the director of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) said in a Facebook post later that day.
The incident occurred at Kranhuong, a village in Siem Reap province’s Svay Leu district, CMAC Director Heng Ratana said in the post, which was originally penned in the Cambodian language of Khmer.
According to an eyewitness, one of the toddlers’ fathers was watching them both play when the unexploded grenade, which is believed to be over 25 years old, detonated, Ratana said.
One of the children died on the spot, and the other was later pronounced dead in the hospital, he added.
