Five schoolboys killed by Vietnam War-era explosive
HANOI - Five Vietnamese schoolboys were killed when a US-made explosive left over from the Vietnam War detonated, police said.
The accident happened when the five boys, aged between nine and 17, tried to set fire to an American projectile they had discovered in a forest in the central province of Binh Thuan.
All five died immediately on the spot, a local policeman told AFP.
Since the war ended in 1975 more than 38,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured as a result of unexploded ordnance, according to Ministry of Public Security statistics published by state media.
According to the US military, more than 15 million tonnes of bombs, mines, artillery shells and other munitions were used during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.
As much as 10 percent of this is estimated to have failed to explode.
Most of the blasts are triggered while people are farming or trying to salvage the metal casings and explosives from the munitions. The metal is usually sold for scrap, while the explosives are used by fishermen.
Agence France Presse - December 25, 2004.
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