SA KAEO: A Thai soldier lost his foot when he stepped on a landmine during a clearance mission in Ban Nong Chan village of Khok Sung district in Sa Kaeo province late Wednesday morning.
The First Army Area identified the injured soldier as Sgt Maj Udomsak Nuekman, a 44-year-old technical surveyor with the Thailand Mine Action Center. He lost his left foot and also suffered shrapnel wounds in his left arm.
The soldier was admitted to Aranyaprathet Hospital in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo. He remained conscious, the army said.
Sgt Maj Udomsak is the 13th Thai soldier to have lost a limb in a landmine explosion since the border conflict with Cambodia erupted last year.
The incident happened at 11am in Ban Nong Chan, one of the most heavily contested areas during last year’s hostilities.
Thai soldiers have found 489 landmines and explosives in the 80,800-square-metre area, where 62,000 sq m has been cleared so far. The items found include 447 PMN anti-personnel mines, 39 MN-79 anti-personnel mines, two POMZ-2 anti-personnel mines and one unexploded mine.
Last year the Thai military reclaimed Bang Nong Chan, where Cambodian people had settled for four decades after fleeing the Khmer Rouge conflict and genocide in the late 1970s.
