PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Two separate explosions from ordnance left over from Cambodia’s decades of warfare killed five people and injured two others, the head of the country’s demining agency said Monday.
Some 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded munitions are estimated to have littered Cambodia’s countryside during almost three decades of war and disorder that ended in 1998.
On Saturday, four members of a family in the northeastern province of Mondulkiri who had gone into the forest to collect resin were killed when a grenade exploded from a handheld B-41 rocket launcher believed to date from the 1980s, according to Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre.
He said he did not know what set off the device, which also injured a 6-year-old girl and the mother in the same family.
Heng Ratana also told The Associated Press that a 47-year-old man who was a dealer of sand used in construction was killed on Sunday in the southern city of Sihanoukville when a 105-mm artillery shell exploded. The director general was unable to provide further details.
Despite a very active demining program, many dangerous munitions remain in place, posing a hazard to villagers. Cambodia reported 7,392 suspected hazardous areas totaling 681 square kilometers (263 square miles) as of the end of 2022, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
There were 65,043 casualties, including 19,822 deaths, caused by land mines and other explosive remnants of war from January 1979 to February 2024, the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority said. There have been an average of 37 casualties a year recorded for 2021-2023, a sharp drop from when the mine removal programs were started.
Cambodian deminers are among the world’s most experienced, and several thousand have been sent in the past decade under U.N. auspices to work in Africa and the Middle East. Cambodia last year began training deminers from Ukraine, which also suffers from a high density of land mines and other unexploded munitions.
FILE - A Cambodian de-mining expert works at a clearance site of land mines near the Cambodia-Thailand border, in Pailin province, once a Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia, on Nov. 27, 2011. Two separate explosions from unexploded ordnance left over from Cambodia’s decades of warfare have killed five people and injured two, the head of the country’s demining agency said Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tyler Fitzgerald continued his power surge with two home runs, Kyle Harrison tied a career high with 11 strikeouts, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 11-4 on Friday night.
Fitzgerald, with a pair of two-run homers, became the first Giants player to hit seven home runs in an eight-game span since Barry Bonds in 2004. The rookie shortstop had a five-game homer streak that was snapped on Wednesday.
“It’s one of those weird things that’s going to happen," Fitzgerald said. "I’m not up there trying to hit homers, but God’s got plans in store for me, I guess. I don’t know what to say about it.”
Fitzgerald, who said this is probably the most homers he's hit in an eight-game span in his life, said he's seeing the ball well.
"Earlier in the year when I wasn’t playing much, I was just trying to get on base," Fitzgerald said. “Now I’m kind of going up there not to hit a homer, but swinging a little bit harder and trying to do damage.”
Harrison (6-4) held the Rockies to a run on one hit. He struck out six of the last nine batters he faced, tipping his cap to the home crowd after he departed following a two-out walk in the seventh. He improved to 3-0 in five career starts against the Rockies.
Manager Bob Melvin praised Harrison for going deep into the game, especially with the teams playing a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday.
“Probably the first time he’s thrown 106 pitches in his career, I'm sure," Melvin said. “But we needed it today.”
Rockies manager Bud Black said before the game that Harrison has “had our number.”
“The thing that’s gotten us is his fastball — sneaky velocity at the top of the zone," Black said. “And we just haven’t been able to handle it.”
Jorge Soler also had three hits, including a leadoff homer, reaching base all five times. Soler drilled a hanging offspeed pitch from Rockies starter Kyle Freeland (2-4) to start the game. He added RBI singles in the second and fourth innings.
Freeland allowed six runs in four innings, though he had eight strikeouts to surpass Ubaldo Jiménez for fourth most in Rockies history.
Fitzgerald followed Soler’s two-out hit in the fourth with a two-run blast that put the Giants ahead 6-1. He then homered in the sixth to push the lead to 8-1. Heliot Ramos added a three-run homer in the eighth.
“Now he’s getting consistent playing time,” Melvin said of Fitzgerald. “There’s a ton of ability there. There's power, there's speed, (he) can play multiple positions. There’s a lot to like.”
Brenton Doyle knocked in two runs with a triple in the eighth inning for the Rockies.
The Giants had dropped five of seven since the All-Star break, including two of three in Colorado to start the second half.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: OF Jordan Beck (broken hand) is moving his rehab assignment up to Triple-A Albuquerque. … OF Nolan Jones (back) is rehabbing at the team’s spring training facility in Scottsdale.
Giants: RHP Keaton Winn will undergo season-ending elbow surgery next week. … IF Thairo Estrada (wrist) was placed on the 10-day injured list, and IF Casey Schmitt was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. … OF Jung Hoo Lee (shoulder), who underwent season-ending surgery earlier in the year, is progressing well and is almost ready to play catch. He is expected to be ready for spring training next year.
UP NEXT
The teams play a doubleheader on Saturday. LHP Blake Snell (0-3, 5.83 ERA) pitches for the Giants against RHP Ryan Feltner (1-10, 5.19 ERA) for the Rockies in Game 1. Game 2 starters were not yet announced.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
San Francisco Giants pitcher Mike Baumann throws to a Colorado Rockies batter during the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos runs the bases after hitting a three-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
San Francisco Giants pitcher Camilo Doval throws to a Colorado Rockies batter during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Colorado Rockies' Brenton Doyle, right, celebrates next to third base coach Warren Schaeffer after hitting a two-run triple against the San Francisco Giants during the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos flips his bat after hitting a three-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald (49) celebrates in front of Jorge Soler (2) after hitting a two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
