A military unit on October 20 morning safely defused a 1,362kg American-made bomb, whose detonators and explosives were still intact, said a military official the same day.
The Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal under the Engineering Command disposed of the wartime explosives and deactivated the two detonators, Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) newspaper cited Colonel Nguyen Dang Chien from the Engineering Command as saying.
The unexploded ordnance was found near the Long Bien Bridge on October 10.
Following the discovery of the bomb, the Ministry of National Defense on Friday asked the Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal to handle it.
The bomb casing was later handed over to the Hanoi Capital High Command for display as a war relic.
The Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal was instructed to conduct a thorough survey and assessment of the bomb’s condition, and to dispatch experienced sappers to the site for its safe removal.
“If not handled in time, the bomb could have posed a major risk to people’s lives and property,” Chien told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Saturday.
In 2004, the center successfully deactivated the largest bomb ever deployed by the U.S. in Indochina during the war in Vietnam.
Weighing 5.5 metric tons, the unexploded ordnance was uncovered in Ia Kha Commune, La Grai District, Gia Lai Province, located in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
(Tuoitre)