2,000-pound bomb disabled in Thua Thien-Hue

HANOI, 20 March (VNA) - A bomb weighing 2,000 pounds (907 kg) was safely deactivated in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on March 17. The bomb was discovered by residents in the local Hong Kim commune, A Luoi district, and disabled by sappers from the province’s Military Command and the APOPO mine clearance agency. The German Foreign Ministry will support Thua Thien-Hue with 257,911 EUR (359,940 USD) to implement a project to clear unexploded ordnances (UXOs) in A Luoi district. In 2014, apart from clearing bombs and mines left over from the wars in the district, the project will develop information management tools, build a bomb and mine database, and implement the Information Management System for Mine Action in the locality. A Luoi is the site of many fierce battles during the American war as it is a strategic location on the Ho Chi Minh Trail through which soldiers and supplies were sent from the north to the south. The National Steering Committee for Recovery over the Postwar Bomb and Landmine Impacts reported that about 800,000 tonnes of UXOs are scattering across 6.6 million hectares, or 20.12 percent of the country’s land, putting people in danger every day. Latest statistics show that UXOs have killed more than 42,000 people and injured 60,000 others nationwide.-VNA