Vietnamese man killed in blast while cutting open warhead

A man in the central province of Ha Tinh was killed when he was cutting open a newly discovered warhead, causing a blast that also wounded his brother.

Local officials in Huong Khe District confirmed that Nguyen Van Linh, 39, died in the explosion at around 4:40 p.m. on Saturday.

His 35-year-old brother Luong was rushed to hospital with severe injuries.

The brothers were reportedly trying to saw open a one-kilogram B40, a warhead designed to be fired from the RPG-2 antitank launcher used during the Vietnam War. They had unearthed the weapon by accident.

Deadly munitions from the war are still exacting a heavy toll on Vietnamese.

According to official data, unexploded ordnance left from the war threatens a fifth of Vietnam’s land mass, and explosions occur regularly, most in the central region.

While some are accidental, many blasts happen because poor people try to make ends meet by salvaging scrap metal.

It is estimated that efforts to completely clear Vietnamese land of bombs will take 300 years.