Lao boy killed, five injured by old cluster bomb
A 13-year-old boy was killed and five boys were injured in Luang Prabang province after a cluster bomb exploded while they were trying to cut it open with a knife.
The cluster bomb may have looked to the boys like a petanque ball but in fact it contained deadly explosive.
Despite this latest catastrophe last weekend, the number of UXO deaths has fallen from over 300 people in 2008 to 56 in 2012, to just 16 people in the first six months of this year.
From January 1 until July 18 this year, 1,880 hectares of land were cleared of UXO, with 37,127 items destroyed including 20,809 cluster munitions, 136 big bombs, 22 mines and 16,160 other devices.
The weekend’s heartrending incident is part of the deadly legacy of the Indochina war, which saw Laos become the most heavily bombed country in history.
