Another Close Call in Central Vietnam

I wrote in an earlier post that over the past few weeks our Vietnam office has been receiving more reports than usual of accidents involving unexploded ordnance (UXO) also known as explosive remnants of war (ERW).

Just this morning the CPIVN office emailed CPIUS to inform us of two more children injured(that makes four in two separate incidents in two days) in Central Vietnam. Again, these kids were very lucky...

"Hi James,

I am sending you now the info of a new accident in Hue.

. (Ho Van Phau, aged 16 and Le Thanh Thiet, aged 10) A new accident
happened in A Luoi, a mountainous district of Thua Thien Hue province on March 21^st 2005. A projectile detonated upon being struck by Ho van Phau when he was shoveling sand in a dam, which is 20km from his home.

The explosion caused Phau unconscious immediately and badly injured him. There were several big fragments that went through his abdomen, right hand below elbow and right leg below knee. In addition, two fingers in his left hand werecrushed.

Phau is the third child in a big but poor ethnic family in A Luoi
district. He had dropped out of school because of his difficult living conditions and worked for someone else to earn money.

The fragments from the projectile also slightly injured another boy
named Thiet who was playing near by the dam. He received a fragment
going through one of his leg below knee.

They were taken directly to the Thua Thien Hue provincial hospital for first aid and treatment."