Shell explosion kills 4 Vietnamese men

Four Vietnamese men were killed when an ammunition shell exploded in Vietnam's central Quang Binh province, Vietnam News Agency reported Tuesday.

The explosion occurred at a metal scrap collecting workshop in Quang Trach district on Monday afternoon when the men were sawing the shell for scraps.

Three workshop laborers aged between 35 and 46 died on the spot, and their 36-year-old employer died at the hospital.

According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund of the United States, during the Vietnam War from 1965-1975, the U.S. Armed Forces deployed more than 15 million tons of bombs, mines, artillery shells and other ordnance in the country, in which ten percent did not detonate as designed.

Local scrap collectors often saw of unexploded ordnance (UXO) for metal and explosive, while small children play ammunitions by breaking them, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries annually.

Now, there are over 300,000 tons of UXO in Vietnam, estimated local officials.

Source: Xinhua