Cambodian police find body believed to be missing Canadian journalist

– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Cambodian police discovered a body on Thursday thought to be that of being missing Canadian journalist and author Dave Walker who disappeared in February, police and friend of Walker’s said.

Veteran journalist Dave Walker, 58, disappeared on February 14 after leaving a guesthouse in Cambodia’s tourist town of Siem Reap – leaving behind all his belongings and carrying only a bottle of water with him, his Cambodian colleague, Sonny Chhoun, told Reuters.

“We suspect that the body is of the missing Canadian journalist,” Kirth Chantharith, a police spokesman, told Reuters.

He gave no further details and said police were investigating the cause of death.

Walker was in Cambodia to work on a film and had been investigating remnants of the Khmer Rouge. More than 2 million people were killed in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 during Khmer Rouge rule.

While Cambodian journalists have at times been attacked and killed, foreign journalists have in recent years rarely been harmed or harassed.

Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said that the body was discovered in jungle, 300 metres (yards) from the Angkor Thom temple, a tourist attraction near Siem Reap.

The Canadian Embassy had not yet been notified of the discovery, he said.

Walker’s colleague, Sonny Chhoun, who was working with him on a documentary about the Khmer Rouge, told Reuters that he had been asked by police to identify the body.

“Looking at shoes and jeans, those are Dave’s … I am so sorry, he was a lovely person,” Sonny Chhoun said.

— Phuket Gazette Editors