SEOUL, November 20 (AJP) - Nine people were killed and 39 injured in unexploded ordnance (UXO) accidents across Laos in the first 10 months of this year, Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone told the National Assembly on Monday at its 8th Ordinary Session.
The country has cleared UXO from 5,256 hectares of land, achieving 70 percent of its target, while the Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Programme covered 1,565 hectares, reaching 21 percent of its planned area. The government has also conducted risk education talks in 970 villages, reaching 3,292 people.
The government aims to clear 100,000 hectares of land by 2030 and survey 250,000 hectares for buried munitions under its "Safe Path Forward III" plan, targeting 10,000 hectares annually.
Laos remains the world's most heavily bombed country per capita, with over 2 million tonnes of ordnance dropped during the Second Indochina War (1964 to 1973), including more than 270 million cluster munitions that left an estimated 80 million live bomblets scattered across the nation.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.