Undertaker Killed by Cremation Explosion

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:05 pm

Cambodia News (Kompong Cham Province): It has been reported that an unidentified undertaker was killed by the blast of an explosion, which took place while he was cremating a body in Choeurng Prey district, Kompong Cham province.

According to the preliminary information, the victim was refueling the heat source in the cremation chamber, when suddenly a loud explosion occurred, blasting the metal door off the chamber, killing the undertaker on the spot. The explosion was as loud as a bomb and the incident took people by surprise.
The authorities are investigating the reason for the unexpected explosion.

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Sun Aug 28, 2022 1:27 am

UPDATE: Further information

The achar*, who was acting as the undertaker in charge of cremation in this case, was a 72-year-old man, Him Soeun, who was conducting the cremation ceremony for the 19-year-old victim of a traffic accident in Roveang village, Kampong Cham province.

It appears that the achar put the body of the deceased person into the cremation oven used communally in the village as usual, then built a wood pile for the fire, and then poured an unspecified amount of gasoline/petrol on top of the woodpile, before lighting the fire and closing the metal door. There was an instant explosion from inside the oven, which projected the metal door directly on to the achar and killed him instantly, shocking the entire funeral party.

*achar - a lay Buddhist ritual specialist in Cambodia
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