Military defuses 337-kg Vietnam War bomb

The U.S. multi-purpose bomb had a M112 demolition charge.

It was discovered by locals in a melaleuca forest in Quang Trach District.

Helping defuse it were members of the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, an American non-profit that develops technologies to overcome the limitations of human mine clearance, and Peace Trees Vietnam, another U.S. NGO that seeks to address the legacy of the war through landmine removal, community assistance and citizens' diplomacy.

The task force separated the detonator from the rest of the bomb and defused it on the spot, but kept the steel cover intact.

According to data from the Ministry of National Defense's Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal, all 159 of Quang Binh's communes, wards and towns are contaminated by unexploded ordnance spread over an area of over 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) or 28.2% of the province's total area.

Since 1975 UXO-related accidents in the province have killed over 2,930 people and injured 3,820 others.