Reuters. April 22, 2002
HANOI -- An 11-year-old boy and middle-aged woman were killed and three people hurt when a U.S.-made bomblet left over from the Vietnam War exploded at the weekend.
An official of the People's Committee of Ky Son district in the northern province of Nghe An told Reuters the boy had picked up the small bomb and it exploded when he dropped it walking to his home on Saturday evening.
"He thought it could be a toy, so he took it home and accidentally dropped it," said the official, who did not want to be identified.
The explosion killed a 45-year-old woman standing nearby with a child on her back, who was injured. A female teacher and her child were also injured.
The official said four secondary school pupils were killed five years ago in a similar accident in the same district.
"There are still many bombs left from the war in the area, although army engineers have checked many times," he said.
Explosions of ordnance from war that ended in 1975 kill and maim dozens of people each year, many of them children.
Many of the injuries are caused by anti-personnel cluster bomblets that were dropped in large numbers by U.S. forces and designed to resemble tropical fruits like guavas or pineapples.