Vietnam explosion leaves two children dead

Published: January 03, 2018 12:27:00 | Updated: January 04, 2018 13:41:34

Many houses have been unroofed as a result of the explosion. (Photo by VnExpress)

Two children have been killed and six other people injured after a big explosion occurred in Vietnam's northern Bac Ninh province early Wednesday morning, provincial authorities announced.

The blast at a house of a scrap collector in Van Mon commune, Yen Phong district also destroyed two houses and damaged many others within a 500 meters radius from the explosion, reports Xinhua news agency.

Some bullets have been found at the scene.

Many households in Van Mon specialise in collecting and processing scraps which sometimes include unexploded ordnance such as mortar shells, mines and bullets.

During the 1965-1975 Vietnam War, the US Armed Forces deployed more than 15 million tons of bombs, mines, artillery shells and other ordnance in Vietnam, in which 10 percent did not detonate as designed, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund of the United States.

Vietnamese scrap collectors often saw unexploded ordnance for metal and explosive, while small children play ammunitions by breaking them, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries annually.