A woman was killed and nine others were injured on Sunday after an unexploded bomb was accidentally detonated by villagers in Rakhine state’s Minbya township.
The bomb was discovered less than half a kilometer from the village of Saparhtar by a 16-year-old boy. He took it back to the village, where a small group gathered to examine it.
When one of the villagers hit the bomb with a piece of wood, it exploded and killed 41-year-old Hla Than Wai and nine others, according to the son of the deceased woman.
“My mother was visiting her friend when the boy came back to the village with the bomb. An older man hit it with a piece of wood and it went off. And my mother died,” Hla Than Wai’s son, Hla Kyaw Win, told Myanmar Now.
He said he was in the village with friends when he heard the explosion.
“The explosion was very loud and we saw the smoke. I ran home to look for my sister. I found her and then I went to find my mother,” he said. “I don’t feel good. I want to cry.”
The body of the dead woman was sent to Minbya hospital, while the injured villagers were taken to hospitals in Minbya and Mrauk-U for treatment, said local resident Kyaw Than.
“Five received heavy injuries to their chests and heads, while others had wounds on their legs,” he said.
Hla Than Wai is survived by her 23-year-old son Hla Kyaw Win and 18-year-old daughter. Her husband was one of six killed in an artillery-shelling incident in the village on June 4, 2019. Eight others were injured in that attack.
With both of his parents now dead because of the conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, Hla Kyaw Win called on both sides to stop the fighting.
“It feels like my life has been ruined,” he said. “I want the clashes to stop. Please stop fighting so no one has to suffer from these atrocities.”
Saparhtar was the site of intense fighting in June 2019. Despite a recent pause in clashes, landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to menace local people—most of whom are farmers fearful of returning to their fields.
Last week, a similar incident in Kyauktaw township left a woman severely injured after she stepped on a landmine near her village.
And in August of last year, two youths were killed and four injured by an explosion in Kat Chaung, a village in southern Rathedaung township.
An estimated 215 civilians were killed in Rakhine state during an escalation of fighting in the first six months after Covid-19 restrictions were imposed last March, according to monitor groups.
