Fourteen citizens in Cambodia died after an anti-tank land mine that was left from several years of war went off when their homemade tractor passed through a remote road on Tuesday.

Among the people who died in the blast are nine women and a baby girl. The incident occurred in the northwest part of Battambang province.

The district police chief Bith Sambo informed that they have not used that road often; however, this time they used that road as a shortcut.

They do not yet know who planted the land mine. In fact, that incident is the worst that they have recorded from a mine blast for 10 years in Cambodia.

Cambodia was involved in a war from the late 1960s until mid-1990s with the Vietnamese army of occupation, as well as other Cambodian faction. Among them, the notorious Khmer Rouge hid several land mines.

Sister Denise Coghlan, a founding member of the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines believes this is a horrific accident. She said that it even happened during the time when they were hoping that accidents and casualties were going down.

There are still about 4 to 6 million land mines, as well as other unexploded weapons considered to be remaining in the country. Death rates from the blasts had been declining, but they are expected to increase in the future.

Since 1979, there have been more than 60,000 people either killed or wounded by these land mines and other unexploded ordnance, according to the aid group Handicap International.

Cambodia remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.