Over 22,000 pieces of UXO cleared in Laos in 6 months

A young Laotian member of UXO Lao methodically runs his metal detector over a plot marked out for clearance.

VIENTIANE (Xinhua): The Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Program (UXO Lao) has cleared unexploded ordnance from more than 1,000 hectares of land in the past six months, with 22, 250 items removed.

According to a report from UXO Lao, from January to June a total of 22, 250 devices were removed from 1,440 hectares of land, of which 16, 518 were cluster munitions.

The programme also carried out 140 Mine Risk Education visits, reaching 74,086 beneficiaries.

UXO Lao staff visited 41 villages to conduct non-technical surveys and identified 201 confirmed hazard areas through technical surveys carried out on 2,033 hectares of land, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Wednesday.

Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita. Throughout 1964-1973, over two million tonnes of ordnance were dropped on Laos, of which 30 per cent failed to explode.

Over 270 million cluster munitions were dropped from US aircraft, leaving an estimated 80 million live bomblets scattered and buried around the country.