Dangrek Incident

Common card · No. 376089

The Dangrek Incident, also known as the Preah Vihear Massacre, or Preah Vihear massacre, was the June 1979 systematic, forced repatriation of 42,000–45,000 Cambodian refugees (mostly women and children) by the Thai military. It resulted in from 3,000 to over 10,000 deaths from landmines, shootings, falls off cliffs, exposure, and disease. Transpiring near Cambodia's 11th–12th century Khmer Preah Vihear temple in the Dângrêk Mountains, Thai soldiers robbed the refugees before forcing them at gunpoint down a vertical cliff, through and into active minefields the military were aware were present. Thai soldiers carried out mass shootings against groups and individuals who refused to descend or attempted to climb back to escape the minefields. Thousands of refugees who survived the initial descent remained trapped in minefields below the cliff into July, where more perished. In January 1979, Vietnam overthrew Pol Pot's deadly regime in Cambodia, forcing the Khmer Rouge west where they were...

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