Phnom Penh (ANTARA News/Xinhua-OANA) - Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) announced Thursday that it has founded 765 Unexploded Ordnances (UXOs) totaling to over 4 tons of explosives in a sunken boat in Tonle Sap river in Kampong Chhnang province, according to the center`s press release.

The wreckage of a sunken boat was discovered late last week. It is believed that the boat was sunk during the fighting between the Lon Nol government`s forces and the Khmer Rouge in the early 1970s.

"We have removed items such as artillery 105mm, mortar 81mm and 60 mm, and recoilless 75 mm from the boat," Uch Own, the team leader of the CMAC`s Underwater Explosive Ordnance Disposal, said Thursday.

"Now, the area is currently being marked off for safety for our operations, and the clearance operation is still undertaking to pick up remaining artilleries and mortars from the wreckage," he added.

Kampong Chhnang province is located some 91 km northwest of Phnom Penh. The provincial waterways used to be the strategic passage for supplies of materials to warring parties during the Khmer rouge and Lon Nol regimes.(*)
H-AK

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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