Film
Ghost Mountain: Second Killing Field
Ghost Mountain: Second Killing Field is a Cambodian film directed by Leak Lyda about Cambodian refugees who fled toward Thailand in 1979.[1]
Story
The film follows refugees who survived the Khmer Rouge period and fled toward Thailand in 1979, believing it would be safe. The Thai military then forced them back into Cambodia across the Dangrek Mountains (ជួរភ្នំដងរែក), through ground heavily contaminated by landmines.[1]
The historian Vong Sotheara said refugees he spoke with in France gave closely matching accounts of being put onto trucks by Thai forces and left in the Dangrek Mountains, and that written records describe the same events.[1]
The documentary
In January 2026 LD Productions began filming a documentary, The Tragedy of Ghost Mountain.[2][1] It is based on Dangrek Mountain… Unforgettable, a book by the businessman Quach Mengly about his family's escape in 1979, first published in 2018.[2] The book tells how his family stayed about a week in a refugee camp in Thailand's Sa Kaeo Province before Thai forces took them to the Dangrek cliffs, where they had to climb down and cross minefields.[2] The area became known as "Ghost Mountain", Khmer Times wrote, from the sound of children crying at night.[2]