A UXO Lao team of bomb clearers head for an unmarked minefield at the top of this hill near Phonsavan in northern Laos
This hill on the Plain of Jars was a gun emplacement during the Vietnam War era Today all around the crest the mines and unemploded bombs are still in place and Laos has no money to clear them No one knows how many unmarked minefields have been left in Laos Locals know their locations but there are no national or regional maps Laos is still fighting the legacy of the Secret War the undeclared invasion by US forces that between 1964 and 1973 resulted in two million tonnes of bombs being dropped that averages out at 10 tonnes per square kilometre or half a tonne for every man woman and child An estimated 30 million bombies cluster bomblets and thousands of bigger bombs still contaminate 15 of the 18 provinces from Luang Namtha near Myanmar Burma to the southern border with Cambodia On the Plain of Jars people live on ground still deadly with 180 different kinds of unexploded bombs and munitions The annual UXO clearing budget has been running at about what America spent every two days from 1964 to 1973 on bombing Laos The area attracts a significant number of adventure travellers
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Photo credit: © John Keeble/VisualGems / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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