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Quang Nam Province, Vietnam- An 11 year old boy in Central Vietnam suffered major injuries this morning and two other children aged 11 and 13 were also injured in a horrific accident involving unexploded ordnance left over from the Vietnam War. Phan Trong Hieu, 11, Phan Van Phu, 11 and Ngo Van Phu, 13 were looking after livestock when Hieu spotted a metallic object in the ground and picked it up. It exploded soon after and injured all three children, Hieu severely.
Hieu received emergency surgery at the Danang General Hospital, 30 kilometers away from the accident site.
“I have been on the phone with Hieu’s family,” said Tran Hong Chi of Clear Path International, a non-profit organization funded by the U.S. Department of State that assists landmine and bomb accident survivors and their families. “It appears that he may lose all four limbs.“
On average of a person a week is injured or killed in Vietnam by encounters with landmines, bombs, rockets and grenades left over from the Vietnam War. Over the last two years, fifty percent of such accidents involved children less than sixteen years of age.
Clear Path International has projects assisting civilian victims of war in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and every region in Afghanistan. You can lean more and help in their mission at www.cpi.org.
