Wartime bomb dropped by the U.S was safely removed and destroyed in central Vietnam

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

On Sunday, the border guard force of Quang Binh province announced that the military force had safely removed and destroyed a bomb from the seabed offshore that had been left from the Vietnam War, Vietnam News Agency reported.

A bomb discovered offshore Quang Binh Province is moved onto a car to be transported to the designated site for detonation. Photo by VNA

The bomb, a MK-82 500LBS, was detected by a local fisherman about 100m from the shore of Quang Trach District on February 13, after which the local border guard station informed the relevant authorities and cordoned off the dangerous area. On February 18, the military personnel successfully removed the bomb and transported it to a designated site for detonation.

FILE – In this March 1966, file photo, a U.S. Air Force B-52 delivers a bomb load of more than 38,000 pounds against Viet Cong strongholds in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War

Despite the passage of decades since the end of the war, Vietnam continues to face the lethal threat from bombs, mines, and unexploded ordnance (UXO). As per the Vietnam National Mine Action Center, UXO contamination is present in all 63 provinces and centrally-run cities in the country, with 5.6 million hectares of land (17.71% of the country’s acreage) affected, according to Vietnam News

The data showed, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 tonnes of UXO are still hidden underground, and 110,000 people have become victims of UXO.