Landmines kill 10,529 since Vietnam war

Tuoi Tre

Unexploded bombs and landmines continue to take their toll on the country long after the Vietnam war ended in 1975. So far, ordinance left over from the war have claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people, according to the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.

A VVAF report showed that since 1975, bombs and mines have killed 10,529 people and injured more than 12,000 in the six central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai.

VVAF representative Nguyen Thu Thao, said VVAF and Vietnam’s Technology Centre for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN) conducted a survey between February 2004 and December 2008 in the six central provinces, which have the highest concentrations of unexploded ordnance.

The U.S.-funded survey interviewed more than 33,000 residents in 1,361 communes and wards of the six provinces.

During the research, VVAF and BOMICEN disarmed 24,018 unexploded devices on 1,357 hectares of land.

• Car sales speed up following tax break -02/08/2009
• Longhouse not around for much longer -02/08/2009
• Australian lieutenant general to visit Vietnam tomorrow -02/08/2009
• Photo exhibit leads into Agent Orange day -02/08/2009
• Oil, gasoline surge as second-quarter US GDP tops projections -02/08/2009

• JBIC pledges to invest in Vietnam -02/08/2009
• Da Lat’s bushels of blossoms -02/08/2009
• Singapore's Banyan Tree to build $900 million Hue resort -02/08/2009
• Bank-insurance alliance to take root in Vietnam: conference -17/05/2009
• Saigon-Hiep Phuoc Port to ring in major changes -17/05/2009