The 1.65-metre MK82 bomb had a 27.4-centimetre diameter and was discovered in a local garden in Hai Tho commune, Hai Lang district.
According to the homeowner, Nguyen Vu, the American army dropped three bombs on his garden in 1972, two of which exploded and the last was buried deep in the ground.
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 – averaging 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% 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.
