Phnom Penh Post
KAMPOT PROVINCE
OFF a dusty track in Trapeang Chranieng village lies a half-finished Buddhist pagoda, its unpainted walls still exposed to the mid-afternoon sun. Locals say the new building – as well as a nearby shrine, built in 2007 – is dedicated to the spirits of those killed in the village while it was under the control of Khmer Rouge forces in the 1990s.
Now a small hamlet of thatch houses and rustling palm leaves, there is little to hint at Trapeang Chranieng’s tumultuous past. As a Khmer Rouge camp – part of the armed group’s Phnom Voar (‘Vine Mountain’) stronghold – the village was the last home of David Wilson, Mark Slater and Jean-Michel Braquet, three tourists kidnapped when Khmer Rouge troops ambushed a Sihanoukville-bound train on July 26, 1994, killing 13 Cambodians.
OFF a dusty track in Trapeang Chranieng village lies a half-finished Buddhist pagoda, its unpainted walls still exposed to the mid-afternoon sun. Locals say the new building – as well as a nearby shrine, built in 2007 – is dedicated to the spirits of those killed in the village while it was under the control of Khmer Rouge forces in the 1990s.
Now a small hamlet of thatch houses and rustling palm leaves, there is little to hint at Trapeang Chranieng’s tumultuous past. As a Khmer Rouge camp – part of the armed group’s Phnom Voar (‘Vine Mountain’) stronghold – the village was the last home of David Wilson, Mark Slater and Jean-Michel Braquet, three tourists kidnapped when Khmer Rouge troops ambushed a Sihanoukville-bound train on July 26, 1994, killing 13 Cambodians.
Photo by: Sebastian Strangio A villager points out the grove in Kampot province where tourists David Wilson, Mark Slater and Jean-Michel Braquet were held during their six weeks in Khmer Rouge captivity.
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