A 226-kilogramme bomb left over from the war was safely deactivated by the military command and sappers of Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An on April 8.
Locals in Thach Son hamlet, Ngoc Son commune, Thanh Chuong district discovered the bomb at a depth of 50 centimetres while digging soil for road construction.
The bomb, 25 centimetres in diameter, 150 centimetres in length, and labelled MK-82, was safely removed and defused at a designated site in Thanh Thuy commune.
According to the Technology Centre for Bomb and Mine Disposal under the Engineering Command, up to 7,645 of the 8,686 communes in Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities are polluted with unexploded ordnance (UXOs).
Statistics from the National Steering Committee for Recovery over Postwar Bomb and Landmine Impacts showed that some 800,000 tonnes of UXOs are scattered across 6.6 million hectares, or 20.12% of the country’s land, mainly in the central region, putting people in danger everyday. (VTV [1], QDND [2])