The bomb clearance team removing the bombs recently discovered in Đắk Nông Province to a safe place to defuse them.— Photo vov.vn |
ĐẮK NÔNG – The military command of Central Highlands province of Đắk Nông has successfully defused two bombs believed to have been dropped by the US Army during the war.
Both bombs are of the MK82 type, 1.33m high and 27.3 in diameter. Each bomb weighs 227kg and contains 87.2kg of Tritonal explosives. They each have a blast radius of 300m.
The bombs were discovered last weekend by farmers in the Krông Nô and Gia Nghĩa townships when they were digging holes to plant trees.
Upon hearing from the local residents, the relevant agencies visited the site and retrieved both bombs, taking them to a safer location to be defused.
A cluster bomb explosion in Quảng Trị killed one deminer and injured another, both technical staff of the Restoring the Environment and Neutralising the Effects of the War (RENEW) project and Norwegian People’s Aid.
The accident occurred on Wednesday when the technical team was searching for cluster munitions and other explosive weapons in a rice field where local farmers had just finished harvesting their rice.
Both casualties were transported to the local hospital for treatment. However, Ngô Thiên Khiết, 45, died from his serious injuries, while Nguyễn Văn Hảo, 43, was transferred to Huế Central Hospital for further treatment.
Cluster munitions have accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the total casualties in Quảng Trị Province, according to statistics from the Legacies of War Coordination Centre. -- VNS