Vietnam War’s explosive legacy

More than 100,000 Vietnamese have been killed or injured by land mines or other abandoned explosives since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, and clearing the country of munitions will take decades.

By The Newsroom

Published 6th Dec 2011, 00:00 BST

“The war’s painful legacy, which includes hundreds of thousands of tonnes of bombs and unexploded ordnance, continues to cause painful casualties every day,” prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday told a UN-sponsored conference on ways to deal with the problem.

Mr Dung said 42,132 people have been killed and 62,163 wounded since the war ended.

America used about 16 million tonnes of bombs and ammunition while allied with the former South Vietnam government, which was defeated by northern communist fighters.