Phnom Penh - Magawa, the famous mine-clearing rat who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism, has died at the age of eight.

In a five-year career, the rodent sniffed out over 100 landmines and other explosives in Cambodia. The explosives-sniffing African giant pouched rat Magawa is also the holder of a Guinness World Record for the most land mines detected by the species.

Magawa was the most successful rat trained by the Belgian charity Apopo to alert human handlers about the mines so they can be safely removed.

The charity said the African giant pouch rat "passed away peacefully" at the weekend.

Bred in Tanzania, Magawa underwent a year of training before moving to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career. There are thought to be up to six million landmines in the South East Asian country.

Trained to detect a chemical compound within the explosives, Magawa cleared more than 141,000 square metres (1,517,711 sq ft) of land - the equivalent of 20 football pitches.

He weighed 1.2kg (2.6lb) and was 70cm (28in) long. While that is far larger than many other rat species, Magawa was still small enough and light enough that he did not trigger mines if he walked over them.

Magawa was capable of searching a field the size of a tennis court in just 20 minutes - something Apopo says would take a person with a metal detector between one and four days.

In 2020, Magawa was awarded the PDSA Gold Medal - sometimes described as the George Cross for animals - for his "life-saving devotion to duty". He was the first rat to be given the medal in the charity's 77-year history.

The rat retired last June, after "slowing down" as he reached old age.

His "amazing sense of smell" allowed "communities in Cambodia to live, work, and play; without fear of losing life or limb", it added.

Apopo has been raising its animals - known as HeroRATs - to detect landmines since the 1990s.
-BBC