2 Toddlers Killed After Decades-Old Grenade Explodes by Their Home

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.

The Associated Press identified the girl as Muo Lisa and boy as Thum Yen. The outlet said the 2-year-olds were not only cousins but also neighbors in the rural village.

The toddlers’ parents were doing farm work when the kids came across the explosive, the AP reported.

By analyzing fragments from the blast, experts from CMAC later determined that the explosive was a rocket-propelled grenade, the AP said. Ratana also shared photos of the fragments, as well as pictures of CMAC deminers examining the site of the fatal explosion.

The Cambodian Mine Action Center did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, Feb. 23.

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In the Svay Leu district, the site of the deadly blast, there was previously heavy conflict between the Cambodian government and rebel guerrillas from the Khmer Rouge, according to the AP.

Explosives that have remained since the fighting, which occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, are particularly dangerous because as they deteriorate, their contents become volatile, the AP reported.

The outlet also said that an estimated 4 to 6 million land mines and other undetonated explosives exist in Cambodia’s countryside.

Many people — including Muo Lisa and Thum Yen’s families — are often unaware of this lingering danger, according to Ratana.

“Their parents went to settle on land that was a former battlefield, and they were not aware that there were any land mines or unexploded ordinance buried near their homes,” the CMAC director said in a statement obtained by the AP.

“It’s a pity,” he continued, “because they were too young and they should not have died like this.”