Found by chance by an excavator operator in the district of Da Huoai, the device, weighing 250 kilograms and 1.6 meters long, retained all its destructive power, as the detonator was intact.

After the discovery, a team of sappers began to explore the area in search of other explosives underground to avoid possible disasters.

In Vietnam, incidents involving bombs and mines, fatal or otherwise, are still frequent, as about a fifth of the country’s surface – especially the central region – is contaminated with such means.

The United States used more than 15 million tons of bombs and mines during the war, four times the amount used in World War II, making it one of the countries most exposed to misfortunes caused by such devices.

Although the war ended in 1975, unexploded bombs and mines have killed more than 42,000 people and injured some 62,000, many of whom were physically disabled.

Experts estimate that Vietnam will need about $10 billion and decades of work to eliminate this latent danger.

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