QUANG TRI, Vietnam - August 22 - The US-Vietnam War continues to claim lives and limbs here in Central Vietnam. Bombs that lie scattered across the landscape detonate on a regular basis killing and maiming adults and children on a regular basis.
51 year old Tran Ca was clearing weeds last week near an ancestral tomb in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam when his hoe hit a piece of unknown ordnance. The piece exploded and he died from his injuries in the hospital an hour later. His son in law, Ky was slightly injured in the accident.
Also last week, 17 year old Tran Dinh Quan lost an eye and a hand when a piece of ordnance he discovered exploded and nearly killed him. He was removing brush from a bomb crater near his home to raise fish for his family. Bomb craters are commonplace in this part of Vietnam which still feels the effects of a war that ended long ago.
Although the Vietnam War ended 30 years ago, by some estimates over 350,000 tons of bombs that did not detonate when dropped remain in the ground. This ordnance regularly claims lives and limbs in this still war-ravaged province. Since the conflict ended in 1975, nearly 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed by by these munitions.
Clear Path International serves landmine and bomb accident survivors, their families and their communities in former war zones in Southeast Asia. This assistance takes the form of both direct and indirect medical and social services to survivor families as well as equipment support to hospitals. Current Clear Path projects are in Vietnam, Cambodia and on the Thai-Burma border.
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