Two boats carrying 15 soldiers of the capital’s High Command sailed to a spot around 800 m from the Long Bien Bridge right next to a sand bank in the middle of the river, at around 5:30 p.m.
Two divers then jumped off to retrieve the bomb, while other boats patrolled the area to prevent ships and other vessels from venturing near the bomb site.
The bomb, discovered four days earlier, was finally retrieved at around 6:45 p.m. It was taken to an empty land lot far away from residential areas on Phu Vien Street, Long Bien District and taken away by a military crane truck later to be disposed of.
This is the second Vietnam War bomb found near the Long Bien Bridge. In 2017, a 2.25 meter-long bomb was salvaged from the river and disposed of.
The Long Bien Bridge was heavily bombed from 1965 to 1972 by the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975 following the fall of Saigon regime.