Members of Peace Trees Vietnam carry a shell away from a farm in Quang Tri Province. Photo credit: Dan Tri
An ordnance clearance team in Quang Tri Province in central Vietnam on Wednesday collected five mortar and artillery shells left from the Vietnam War at a local farm.
The team of Peace Trees Vietnam, the first foreign organization signing up for removing unexploded ordnance in Vietnam, said the items could have exploded anytime if hit.
The shells, weighing between 25 kilograms and 38 kilograms, were buried around one meter underground, local media reported.
They were first found during a search for remains of soldiers killed in the war in the area.
Locals said they have found similar shells once in a while in the area, but there had never been an thorough scan and clearance.
A Peace Trees Vietnam member lays out the shells found at a farm in Quang Tri Province. Photo credit: Dan Tri
Quang Tri suffered the worst of American bombing during the peak of the Vietnam War and was a major battleground during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
An estimated 400,000 pieces of UXO remain buried across the province and they can be found in farmland and under houses.
UXO accidents killed more than 7,000 victims, 31 percent of them children, in the province between 1975 and 2011, according to official statistics.
Đăng ký: VietNam News