Fourteen Accidents Kill Nine, Injure Twenty, Including Thirteen Children

PHO CUONG, Quang Ngai Province – The first four months of 2003 have claimed the lives of nine bomb accident victims and injured 20 in 14 separate accidents in central Vietnam. Thirteen of the 29 victims were children.

The tragedies, which represent one of the worst spates in recent years,
underscores the frequency with which accidents are expected to continue in central Vietnam, a region that has one of the highest per capita number of unexploded bombs anywhere in the world.

Economic growth and development activities, such as the construction of a highway on the former Ho Chi Minh Trail, will lead to growing encounters with deadly wartime explosives.

The high frequency of accidents is one of the main reasons Clear Path International has its most active survivor assistance program in central Vietnam, where the organization has responded to 46 accidents in five provinces during the past two years. In addition, Clear Path supports hundreds of previously injured mine survivors in the region.

Of this year’s accidents, nine occurred in Quang Tri Province south of the former Demilitarized Zone that once divided Vietnam; two in Quang Binh Province to the north of the DMZ; and one each in Quang Ngai, Hue and Ha Tinh provinces.

Thanks to its donors, including Episcopal Relief & Development, Ross Foundation, Adopt-A-Minefield, Johnson & Widdifield Charitable Trust and Catholic Relief Services, Clear Path has been able to respond quickly to these incidents with emergency medical care services and continues to support the needs of other survivors through medical services, prosthetics, rehabilitation, scholarships, income-generating funds, household support grants and vocational skills training.