The bodies of the children killed when playing with an explosive device in Xayaboury on Saturday.

Two killed, three injured in UXO explosion

Two children were killed and three others were injured when playing with an unknown type of explosive in Namyab village, Pieng district, Xayaboury province on Saturday.
The accident occurred when the five children were playing in a rice field, according to a local reporter.
The details of the accident are unclear and it is not known whether the explosive device that killed them was a remnant of war.
Villagers said the children went to the rice field and saw the devices, which they picked up and tossed around.
Local authorities are investigating the incident.
Accidents involving unexploded ordnance occur every year, although the authorities regularly conduct risk education and awareness classes while continuing to remove unexploded devices across the country.
The Mine Risk Education programme provides understanding and awareness among educators at every level, including schoolteachers, about UXO safety.
The main purpose is to reduce the number of deaths and injuries due to UXO accidents through a national programme of mine risk education for schoolchildren.
Sixteen UXO-related accidents were recorded in Laos over the past year, in which 15 people were injured and five people died, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.
Laos is the most severely UXO-affected country per capita as a result of heavy bombing during the Indochina war from 1964-1973.
The large number of unexploded devices that remain in the ground continues to cause physical damage and affect people’s livelihoods. They are an obstacle to the use of land for farming, and to the overall socio-economic development of Laos.
The burden of addressing this problem remains heavy and there are many challenges, especially the need for more funding and technical support from the international community.
Greater coordination is needed between the central and local agencies involved, with the support of international organisations, to create a national strategic plan to effectively address the problem in the long term.
From 1996 to February 22, 2023, some 79,599 hectares of land were cleared of unexploded munitions, making local communities safe, with 1,808,254 devices removed and detonated.
Of this number, 1,056,393 were cluster bombs, 4,336 were large bombs, and 2,456 were land mines, while 745,069 other types of munitions were also located and detonated.
In terms of UXO risk education, people in 4,092 villages were made aware of the dangers posed and the need for caution. From 2015 to 2022, assistance was provided to 2,846 people who were victims of UXO-related accidents.
Surveys carried out from 2010 to 2022 in more than 3,000 villages revealed that 174,638 hectares of land were affected by cluster bombs.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update August 1, 2023)