27 wartime bombs unearthed in backyard in central Vietnam

By Staff reporters   October 17, 2017 | 07:49 pm PT
27 wartime bombs unearthed in backyard in central Vietnam
Quang Tri was a center for American military bases and a principle battleground during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Bomb removal experts from PeaceTrees Vietnam safely cleared Tuesday 27 artillery shells from a backyard in the central province of Quang Tri, one of the deadliest battlefields of the Vietnam War.

The U.S.-based group said the 105mm shells weighed 19 kilograms (42 lbs) each and all were produced by the U.S. They have been moved to a safe place for disposal, according to a report on Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army), Vietnam’s defense ministry's news website.

A man in Pa Tang Commune contacted the unit after exposing one of the shells while he was plowing his backyard.

His neighbors believe that more bombs are buried in nearby gardens and farmland in the area.

Quang Tri was the province hardest hit by bombings during the Vietnam War. It was a center for American military bases and a principle battleground during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

An estimated 400,000 pieces of unexploded ordinance, or UXOs, remain buried across 480,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of land in Quang Tri. They have been found in rice fields, gardens and even under beds.

In January, a 270-kilogram bomb was also unearthed in the province during road construction work.

Across Vietnam, UXOs still threaten a fifth of the land mass and explosions occur frequently, killing more than 1,500 people every year and maiming and injuring 2,200 more, according to official data.

 
 
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