A war-era bomb, weighing about 125 kilos, was safely dug out of the Nai Mountain historical relic site in Ha Tinh city, the central province of Ha Tinh, on May 6. Sappers from the provincial Military Command retrieved the bomb, dropped by US troops during their fierce air attacks on northern localities from 1968 to 1972, and brought it to a location to be safely detonated. The bomb was uncovered on May 5 at a construction site for a road running through the historical site. Since the beginning of this year, the provincial sappers have defined five bombs and 30 other unexploded ordnances left over from the US war. Located in the northern part of the central region, Ha Tinh boasts Dong Loc T-junction, which was renowned as a strategic traffic gateway between the north and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through which soldiers and supplies were sent from the north to the south during the war. The US army used more than 15 million tons of bombs and mines in the war in Vietnam, four times the amount used in World War 2. As a result, Vietnam has been listed among the countries most contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXOs). According to the National Steering Committee for Recovery over Postwar Bomb and Landmine Impacts, about 800,000 tons of UXOs are scattering across 6.6 million hectares, or 20.12% of the country’s land, mainly in the central region, putting people in danger every day. Latest statistics show that UXOs have killed more than 42,000 people and injured 60,000 others nationwide. (Lao Dong – Labor May 7 p7, Vietnam News May 7 p3)
