Five schoolboys killed by Vietnam War-era explosive

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=5&u=/afp/20041225/ts_afp/vietnamblast_041225063232

HANOI (AFP) - Five Vietnamese schoolboys were killed when a US-made explosive left over from the Vietnam War detonated, police said.

The accident happened when the five boys, aged between nine and 17, tried to set fire to an American projectile they had discovered in a forest in the central province of Binh Thuan.

All five died immediately on the spot, a local policeman told AFP.

Since the war ended in 1975 more than 38,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured as a result of unexploded ordnance, according to Ministry of Public Security statistics published by state media.

According to the US military, more than 15 million tonnes of bombs, mines, artillery shells and other munitions were used during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.

snip

[chelaque liberal]

1. Worth restating:

"Since the war ended in 1975 more than 38,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured as a result of unexploded ordnance, according to Ministry of Public Security statistics published by state media."

Thanks for posting.

[pinniped]

2. Wow, I was just going to highlight that same line.

.

[RetroLounge]

5. The future for Iraqis.

RL

[illflem]

3. and we feel need to declare war on the Muslim world

when a measly 3000 (by comparison) get killed in the WTC

[Benhurst]

4. May God forgive us.

It's too much to expect the rest of the world to do so.

[Javaman]

6. Just image in 20 or 30 years, if we ever leave Iraq, whom will be

blown to bits from the stuff we are dropping or shooting a them now.

[Bigmack]

8. Don't forget ...

... the Depleted Uranium the US has fired into Iraq. They won't blow up... they'll just die of cancer, glow in the dark, and have two-headed kids.

About the Vietnamese kids... Hey, no harm, no foul! They're not WHITE kids.... they don't count. (Sarcasm setting on "Dark")

[Javaman]

9. You're right. Correction, thousands of years from now.

[despairing optimist]

7. The seeds of the US empire are still fertile after 30 years

What a story for Christmas Day. Can't wait for the New Year's stories.

[ruggerson]

10. The gift that keeps on giving