Ratanakiri wildlife station torched after Indigenous woman’s death, authorities deny link

A ranger station in Cambodia’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary was burned after the death of a 19-year-old Indigenous woman near a gold-mining site, exposing a sharp dispute between villagers and environmental authorities.

Villagers said environmental officers arrived on Sept. 6 to crack down on traditional, small-scale gold mining. They alleged that the officers chased people in an attempt to arrest them, frightening Salieng Savin, an Indigenous Bunong woman from Roya village in Mondulkiri province. According to the villagers, she suffered cardiac arrest after becoming frightened.

In a video recorded before the Srae Chrey sub-ranger station was razed, villagers said officials had shown no compassion toward poor residents. “Environmental officials showed no compassion for poor villagers. People are hungry. We are not clearing land; we are only digging shallow areas [for gold] to earn a little money. We ask the authorities to find a solution for us,” several villagers said.

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Environmental officials showed no compassion for poor villagers. People are hungry. We are not clearing land; we are only digging shallow areas [for gold] to earn a little money. We ask the authorities to find a solution for us.

Salieng’s family also said she died of cardiac arrest after becoming frightened and falling from her motorcycle near the mining site. They rejected claims that she died in a traffic accident, but could not immediately provide further details while attending her funeral.

The Ratanakkiri Provincial Department of Environment said its rangers had peacefully advised illegal miners to stop their activities. About two hours later, at 1:15 p.m., it received a report from a police station that a motorcycle accident had killed someone. The department denied that the death was connected to the rangers’ intervention and said the claim had been used to fuel accusations leading to the destruction and burning of the deputy ranger’s office. It condemned the incident as “defamation, incitement, violence and destruction of public property.” Villagers, meanwhile, said their mining was family-based and supplemented local incomes near villages and rotational farms.

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defamation, incitement, violence and destruction of public property