Sappers in the southern province of Binh Phuoc on June 6 deactivated a 300kg bomb in Tan Binh ward, Dong Xoai town, Binh Phuoc province.

The 2-metre long bomb left from the war was discovered at a depth of one metre in a residential area during the digging for a domestic wastewater treatment tank, according to Major Nguyen Duc Que from the Binh Phuoc Military High Command.

The bomb was moved to the Sapper High Command’s centre for bomb and mine treatment to deactivate.

Preliminary statistics show that unexploded ordnances (UXOs) have claimed more than 42,000 lives and left 62,000 injured, primarily rural individuals and children, in Vietnam over the last four decades, or roughly 1,500 deaths and 2,300 injuries each year.

According to the National Steering Committee for Recovery over the Post-war Bomb and Landmine Impact, an estimated 800,000 tonnes of UXOs are scattered across 6.6 million hectares, or 20.12 percent of the country’s land, mainly in the central region.

Vietnam has thus far cleared hundreds of thousands of hectares of UXOs, including more than 100,000 hectares of land demined between 2012 and 2013 alone.-VNA