Bomb Found in Canal in Ho Chi Minh City

Sappers on Aug 25 collected a Vietnam War 400 lb bomb and an artillery shell which were found last week in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City. The bomb was found last week when local people were dredging the Mon canal. It measured 1.5 meter in length and 0.4 meters in diameter. The 105 mm shell, weighing 50 kg, was found in a near by paddy field. Vietnam’s official figures have listed 6.6 million hectares (16.3 million acres) of land in the country as contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975. UXOs, including bombs, shells and landmines, killed 42,135 people and injured 62,163 others between 1975 and 2000, with children accounting for 30% of the victims, according to surveys by the social affairs ministry by 2002. Only 20% of them had been defused by then and the rest have been in for more kills, especially in the hardest-hit central region. (Dai Doan Ket – Great Unity Aug 25 p7, Thanhniennews.vn Aug 25)