Type of Incident

Landmine explosion

Date of Incident(s)

June 21st 2022

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

R--- village, Ler Muh Plaw village tract,[2] Lu Thaw Township, Mu Traw District

Victim Information

Name

Saw[3] U---  

Age

24 years old

Sex

Male

Ethnicity

Karen

Family    

Single

Occupation

Farmer

Religion

Animist

Position

Villager

Village

R--- village, Ler Muh Plaw village tract, Lu Thaw Township, Mu Traw District

Perpetrator Information

Name(s)           

Rank

Company/Battalion/Division

Based at

Commander’s Name

Unknown

Unknown

SAC soldiers (suspected)

SAC Htaw Muh Pleh Meh army camp

Unknown

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

The KHRG field researcher interviewed the victim, Saw U---, on July 2nd 2022, while he was recovering at A--- clinic located in Naw Yoh Hta village tract.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

The victim provided the information about the landmine incident.

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. For each incident, be sure to include 1) when the incident happened, 2) where it happened, 3) what happened, 4) how it happened, 5) who was involved, and 6) why it happened. Also describe any villager response(s) to the incident, the aftermath and the current living situation of the victims. Please use the space prepared below, and create an attachment if needed.

On June 21st 2022 at 9:25 am, a 24-year-old villager named Saw U--- from R--- village, Ler Muh Plaw village tract, Lu Thaw Township, Mu Traw District stepped on a M-14 landmine while he was foraging for vegetables and hunting with his brother, E---. His right leg was seriously injured by the landmine explosion. His left leg was also partially injured, with landmine fragments stuck in it. The landmine was [assumed by local villagers to have been] planted by State Administration Council (SAC)[4] soldiers at T’Yaw Loo place, [close to Yee Ghaw Loh Der village, due to SAC activities in the area]. After the incident, Saw U---’s brother wrapped his injury [to prevent] bleeding. Then, the victim’s brother carried him back to R--- village. It took them about an hour to walk back to the village.

After their return, villagers carried the victim in a hammock on foot [for half an hour] to A--- clinic, located in Naw Yoh Hta village tract, Lu Thaw Township for treatment. The victim arrived at the clinic at about 4:00 pm. On the morning of June 22nd 2022, the doctors at the hospital amputated his right leg below his knee. Due to inadequate medical supplies and medicine at the clinic, the victim was required to buy medicine himself, which cost over 2,000 baht [USD 60.77].[5] During the operation, the victim needed three to four bags of blood transfusion. His friends donated the blood that was needed for the operation and provided some financial support. At the hospital, the healthcare workers were only able to remove the landmine fragments stuck in his left leg later [due to insufficient medical supplies]. Saw U--- stayed at the hospital for about five months, from June 21st to November 2022. During this time, his brother, E---, looked after him. [He was provided a prosthetic leg to help him walk.] [As of December 2022], he is displaced in the forest along with other villagers due to ongoing fighting between armed groups, and did not fully recover yet.

In terms of medical expenses, his relatives who resettled in a foreign country provided him with some financial support. The victim also received 1,000 baht [USD 30.39] from his village tract, but the financial support was not enough to cover his medical expenses. No organisations provided him with any financial support yet.

Saw U--- is now having difficulty to travel and work as he lost one of his legs. In addition, he is living in a mountainous area and depends on his hill farmland to secure his livelihood. As the youngest child in the family, he has to take care of his parents. However, the victim’s parents now have to take care of him after the incident, causing him to burden his parents financially. The victim said it is very distressing to lose one of his legs as a young man.

The SAC Htaw Muh Pleh Meh army camp has been based near R--- village for many years [before the victim was even born]. The villagers living there expressed their desire for the SAC soldiers to retreat from their area. However, SAC soldiers have increased their military activities such as patrolling, planting landmines, and even conducted shelling into villagers’ farmlands. Villagers are afraid of working on their farmlands. Therefore, villagers have had to borrow rice from other villagers as they do not have enough food to secure their survival throughout the year.

The victim and other villagers living in the village have never attended Mine Risk Awareness Training. The local leaders [village heads and Karen National Union (KNU)[6] leaders] warned villagers about the landmine contamination in the area, but they do not know exactly where SAC landmines are planted. Therefore, villagers have to travel and work in fear of landmine explosions.

Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided.

The victim permitted KHRG to use the information he provided.