350 kg bomb from Indochina War found in northern school

By Viet An February 26, 2023 | 10:20 pm PT

Officers and soldiers remove a bomb found at a school in Dien Bien Province, northern Vietnam, February 25, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Kien Thao

The army safely removed an unexploded bomb left from the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in the 1950s from a boarding school in the northern Dien Bien Province.

It was found at the Ethnic Boarding High School in Dien Bien Phu Town last Saturday by workers building an anti-erosion embankment for the school.

The rusted 350 kg bomb lay two meters under the ground.

The province Military Command said it had been dropped by the French during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, part of the First Indochina War that Vietnam fought between 1946 and 1954.

The bomb was taken to a designated site for detonation.

Since 1975, when the war against the U.S. ended, there have been more than 40,000 deaths and 60,000 injuries due to unexploded ordnance (UXO).

According to the Vietnam National Mine Action Center, all 63 provinces and cities have UXO spread over some 5.6 million hectares of land, or 17.71% of the country's area.

It is estimated that 600,000 – 800,000 tons of UXO still lie below ground.