Memories of a Cambodian boy rescued by Vietnamese soldiers from the Khmer Rouge 'hell'

Norng Chan Phal was only 8 or 9 years old when he was sent to Security Prison 21, a place where 17,000 people were imprisoned and tortured under the Khmer Rouge regime and often referred to in the media as "hell on earth." Norng Chan Phal's father was imprisoned there in 1978, and Norng Chan Phal, his mother and younger brother suffered the same fate six months later, according toGuardian.

Little boy Norng Chan Phal (held on the left) with Vietnamese volunteer soldiers in Cambodia in January 1979. Photo: Cambodian Documentation Center.

"My mother was sick at the time and could not get out of the truck by herself. They dragged her down and slapped her in the face many times," Chan Phal recounted.

His mother was locked in a cell on the second floor while he and his brother were taken to the prison kitchen. "I saw my mother looking at us through the window. I never saw her again," he said.

During his time in prison, Chan Phal tended the vegetable garden and slept near the pig pen. The only meals he and his brother ate were bowls of porridge.

In January 1979, when Vietnamese volunteer troops entered to liberate the capital Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge regime at the request of the Cambodian revolutionary movement, the remnants of Pol Pot's army panicked and fled.

The guards at Security Prison 21 herded the prisoners onto trucks to leave before the Vietnamese troops arrived. They shouted for the Chan Phal brothers to get into the truck, but they hid in a pile of clothes.

"A woman dragged the children into the car. I told my brother to hide in a pile of clothes in the backyard of the prison. Because we left in a hurry, they couldn't find us. I hid there and hoped my mother would come looking for us," Chan Phal said.

After the Khmer Rouge left, Chan Phal ran to find his mother.

Norng Chan Phal (left) and Mr. Ho Van Tay in Cambodia in 2009. Photo: Reuters

"I climbed to the second floor but couldn't find my mother. I ran to another building and saw bodies lying in a pool of blood. I was scared, burst into tears and continued running to look for them," he said. After not seeing his mother and hearing gunshots, Chan Phal returned to hide in a pile of clothes.

A few hours later, Vietnamese volunteers arrived and discovered five children in the prison, one of whom later died. Journalist Dinh Phong and war cameraman Ho Van Tay, who were present at the prison at the time, said the children were naked and covered in mosquito bites.

"We had to step over rotting corpses, still shackled at their ankles," said Mr. Tay.

Vietnamese volunteers fed the children and took them to hospital. The Phal brothers were then placed in an orphanage.

Years later, when he revisited the prison, which is now a genocide museum housing evidence of the Khmer Rouge's crimes, Chan Phal burst into tears. "I looked at the window where I had seen my mother. It still hurts me to remember when she was beaten by the Khmer Rouge," he said.