Wartime bomb safely removed from seabed in central Vietnam

A local fisherman detected the 1.6m long bomb about 100m from the shore of Quang Trach District on February 13 and alerted the local border guard station, which zoned off the dangerous area and informed relevant authorities.

On February 18, military personnel in the province removed the bomb from the seabed safely and transported to the designated site for detonation. The bomb is a MK-82 500LBS and dropped by the U.S. during the Vietnam War.

Decades after the end of war, Vietnam still suffers from the deadly threat from bombs, mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

According to the Vietnam National Mine Action Center, all 63 provinces and centrally-run cities in Vietnam are contaminated with UXO, with 5.6 million hectares of land in total (17.71% of the country’s acreage) affected. It is estimated that between 600,000 – 800,000 tonnes of UXO are still hidden underground, and 110,000 people have so far become victims of UXO.