The 300-kg bomb found in the foot of a hill in Him Lam ward (Source: VNA)Dien Bien (VNA) – The Military Commandof Dien Bien city and sappers from the Military High Command of northernmountainous province of Dien Bien have safely detonated an over 300-kg bombdropped by the US troops during the war in Vietnam.
The bomb was discovered on March 2 in the foot ofa hill near a residential area in Him Lam ward by a local man when he wasclearing the slid land in his backyard.
This is the first bomb found in the province in2018.
According to the Technology Centre for Bomb andMine Disposal under the Engineering Command, up to 7,645 of the 8,686 communesin Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities are polluted with unexploded ordnance(UXOs).
The US army used more than 15 million tonnes ofbombs and mines in the war in Vietnam, four times the amount used in World War II.As a result, Vietnam has been listed among the countries most contaminated withUXOs.
According to the National Steering Committee forRecovery over Postwar Bomb and Landmine Impacts, about 800,000 tonnes of UXOsare scattering across 6.6 million hectares, or 20.12 percent of the country’sland, mainly in the central region, putting people in danger every day.
Vietnam has cleared hundreds of thousands ofhectares of UXOs so far.-VNA
VNA
