Ammo blast kills 20 Cambodian soldiers
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — An ammunition explosion at a base in southwestern Cambodia on Saturday afternoon killed 20 soldiers and wounded several others, Prime Minister Hun Manet said.
Hun Manet said in a Facebook post that he was “deeply shocked” when he received news of the blast at the base in Kampong Speu province. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused it.
Four buildings — three for storage and one work facility — were destroyed and several military vehicles damaged, Col. Youeng Sokhon, an army officer at the site, said in a brief report to army chief Gen. Mao Sophan, posted on social media. He added that 25 villagers’ homes were damaged as well.
Cambodia has been suffering from an extended heat wave, and the province where the blast occurred registered a high of 102 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday. While high temperatures normally can’t detonate ammunition, they can degrade the stability of explosives over a period of time, with the risk that a single small explosion can set off a fire and a chain reaction.
Kiripost, an online English-language news service, quoted a nearby resident as saying a major explosion occurred about 2:30 p.m., followed by smaller blasts for another hour.
Pheng Kimneang was quoted as saying the windows of a factory nearby were shattered and homes as far as a halfmile away suffered minor damage.
Hun Manet offered condolences to the soldiers’ families and promised that the government would pay for their funerals and provide compensation to those killed and those wounded.