John New Min and his fellow rebel soldiers had spent hours removing land mines laid by Myanmar’s military, using farm tools and their bare hands. The munitions had been placed near homes, farms and even in churchyards in a remote part of the country’s east.
Taking a break, Mr. Min was walking toward a shady tree when he stepped on a mine. The explosion, in September 2023, threw him into the air, took his right leg and blinded him.
With the blast, Mr. Min became the seventh member of his extended family injured or killed by a mine. Before him, his grandfather, an uncle and a cousin all lost a leg to the military’s land mines, the family said. Three other cousins died.
“It pains me to see that from my generation to my grandchildren’s generation, we are all still suffering because of land mines,” said the grandfather, Bu Ri, 88, who lost his left leg to a mine in the same region 32 years ago.
The danger from the explosives, which are also planted by the rebels, has become more acute across Myanmar in recent years — a legacy of a civil war, now in its sixth year, that has ravaged the country. According to a December report by Landmine Monitor, Myanmar had 2,029 mine casualties in 2024, more than any other country for the second consecutive year. Often, the victims are children.
Myanmar fell into chaos after the military ousted a democratically elected government in 2021. The junta’s return to power — the country has been ruled by military fiat for most of its existence — led to a growing armed resistance. But unable to defeat rebel forces, the generals have repeatedly attacked civilians, including launching airstrikes on weddings and temples, and planting land mines in areas where civilians are likely to encounter them.
Mr. Bu and his descendants are residents of Karenni State, where rebels have been fighting the military on-and-off for decades. The latest coup has brought them untold trauma.
The patriarch said he had to flee so quickly from his home when fighting erupted nearby that he left behind his prosthetic leg. Like more than half of the state’s 450,000 residents, he took refuge in a camp for displaced people three hours from his home. He gets around the crowded jungle camp on crutches.
After the coup, local pro-democracy and ethnic leaders founded the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force to fight the regime.
One of Mr. Bu’s sons, Thin Naw, and 11 grandsons enlisted.
Mr. Thin, 41, was also helping with demining when he stepped on a mine and lost his right leg. That was a week before his nephew, Mr. Min, lost his leg and eyesight.
“If the revolution fails, I sometimes wonder whether Karenni State will become a place filled only with people permanently disabled by land mines and haunted by those who were killed,” Mr. Thin said.
All of the accidents that befell family members occurred in 2022 and 2023, except for Mr. Bu’s a generation earlier. Other grandsons continue to work in demining operations, family members said.
“After 2023, no one in our family stepped on a mine again, but that doesn’t mean the danger is gone,” said Mr. Min, 25. “I think it is because we became more careful and some dangerous areas were avoided, and maybe we were just lucky.”
He added, “We still live with fear because we don’t know where mines remain, and people here still worry about where they step every day.”
Rebel forces, which control about two-thirds of the state, continually clear mines. But much of the territory remains an active conflict zone and, whenever the military advances, it plants more mines.
“The land mine threat in Karenni is worsening day by day because demining cannot be fully carried out,” said Banya Khung Aung, the secretary of the Karenni State Interim Executive Council, the state’s revolutionary government. “Both sides are planting more mines and mines are increasingly being laid in densely populated areas.”
To avoid civilian casualties from rebel minefields, he said, the Karenni defense force escorts residents who want to travel in areas saturated with rebel mines.
Mr. Min’s cousin, Joseph, 23, who goes by only one name, was the first of the family’s younger generations to step on a mine. He and his unit were fighting army troops when they ran out of ammunition and had to retreat.
As they moved through the jungle, a soldier in front of him stepped on a mine and died. The survivors changed course and waded through a stream in ankle-deep water, where Mr. Joseph stepped on a mine. He lost his left leg.
Mr. Joseph said that his grandfather, Mr. Bu, told him: “Now you’ve become like me.”
Mr. Bu helps give the younger family members strength. They visit him at the camp, where he jokes and boosts their spirits. The family says their sacrifice will be meaningful if the rebels finally defeat the military.
“If the revolution fails,” Mr. Joseph said, “then losing my leg would not have been worth it.”
