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June 29, 2009
Leftover firearms killed 42,000
Mr Hieu said the government, helped with funds from international organisations and countries including the United States, has cleared more than 3 per cent of the contaminated area. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
HANOI - UNEXPLODED ordnance left over from the Vietnam War has killed more than 42,000 people in the country since the conflict ended more than three decades ago, and deadly accidents continue daily, a senior military official said on Monday.
US forces used 15 million tonnes of bombs and ammunition during the war and an estimated 800,000 tonnes of unexploded ordnance still contaminates 20 per cent of the country's area, Vice Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Huy Hieu wrote in the state-run People's Army newspaper.
db He said it may take more than 100 years to clear the contaminated area. This is the kind of long term investment Canada needs, if we hadn't built these mines those people would be out of work. A hundred years of demineing because someone invested in the future.db