On May 30th, 2006, a terrible UXO related accident happened in central highland of Vietnam. Six children from 2 to 11 years old were killed and injured by a cluster bomb explosion. The accident happened in Kong Chro district, Gia Lai province at 10:30 hours.

Earlier, the kids from two neighboring families found a cluster bomb in a stream near their farm. They saw tiny steel balls on the case and attempted to take them out. The kids took the bomb to the back of their farm hut and smashed it against a rock. The explosion that followed killed three of the children that had gathered to watch and injured three others.

* Mr. & Mrs. Dinh Srong have 8 children total and four of them involved in the accident. Two were killed on spot, the other two were injured:
1. Dinh Thi Re, female, born 1995: Killed on spot
2. Dinh Sronh, male, born 2000: Killed on spot
3. Dinh He, male, born 1998: Multiple injuries
4. Dinh Sroch, male, born 2004: Multiple injuries, lung penetrated

* Mr. & Mrs. Dinh Luc have 5 children and two of them involved in the accident:
1. Dinh Khach, male, born 1997: Killed on spot
2. Dinh Bit, male, born 1995: Injured in left leg

Upon the request from local authority, CPI staff arrived at the accident site about 470 miles away less than 24 hours to respond to the accident and conduct assistance. Both families were supported with the family bereavement grants (to assist the family inburial costs) and medical supportfor the injured. Timely assistance from CPI was highly received by the parents and appreciated by local officials.

The Accident Site

Mrs. Dinh Srong sits with her two injured children, the only survivors of the accident.

I have posted another video to YOUTUBE today.

This is the story of Ho Van Lai... the video is a few years old, but the story is just as powerful as the day we filmed it. Ho Van Lai is doing very well these days! He walks easily on his prosthetics and is a happy young man!

When I first received the brief information over the phone about the accident, I couldn’t imagine how a three years old boy could involve in a UXO accident. For he is too small to cause anything that lead to a detonation of a UXO, and that UXO is not that available for small kids like him to lay a finger on. If he was a by-stander then why there was no other casualty reported. I took the truck out of the garage, head to the Quang Tri general hospital, still trying to answer those questions to myself.

The boy was sleeping as the pain killer still had its effect. The doctors had just had an operation to remove fragments. He had black eyes, but it was difficult to tell whether they were also injured or not. The boy was cared by his grandmother while his father had just gone out to get some medicine for him.

View a movie here

It was Sunday, January 8, 2006, a day off school and Nguyen The Thang was busy in the backyard moving some bonsai trees to plant in the front entrance. Tet, the Vietnamese traditional Newyear festival is coming in two weeks, and everyone is busy preparing their home for a new appearance to welcom the lunar new year.

While planting the third tree, Thang dug up something metal. The conical shape of the item attracted his curiosity. Thang bended down, picked it up for a close look. The item was a bit heavy, rusty looking and stuck with dirt. The 8 grade student sat down and tapped it against a rock to get loose the dirt. Beyond his expectation, the thing detonated right in his hand.