Around 10 percent of remaining bombs and explosives in Quang Tri are deep underground and yet to explode.

VietNamNet Bridge – In the central province of Quang Tri, a fierce battlefield in the Vietnam War, not only Mrs. Tam looks for mines, but many other people. They are living on the war’s remnants and doing a deadly job.

War is a terrible thing and Quang Tri is a name that is closely connected with war. Quang Tri is the land of sad things: It hosts the three largest cemeteries in Vietnam; in over 20 years, this land sustained a huge volume of bombs.

After the war, Quang Tri was named a heroic land, but the war has left pain for poor local people, including deaths caused by bombs and explosives. More painfully, many people are making their living and exchanging their lives by looking for bombs.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Tam, 46, in Yen Minh village, Gio Linh district, is one who works alongside death everyday.

Looking for bombs has long been an extra job of Tam, alongside farming. In 1994, her husband died while cutting up a big bomb. Tam continues to seek bombs as scrap to earn some money to bring up her four children.

Tam and many other women in her village are doing this dangerous job. They hunt bombs with a very primitive tool, which was discovered several years ago by bomb hunters. A battery-fueled induction set tied to a stick or something else. An earphone is connected to the inductor so the user will hear a sound if the inductor discovers metal.

“It is my fate! I can die anytime but I’m reluctant to leave this job. I do it and it became my job naturally,” Tam said.

Yes, nobody likes this job, but they have to do it to support their families.

How many bombs hidden underground in this plot of land?

Duong Bao Di from Hai Thai commune, Gio Linh district, the leader of a bomb searching group said: “I must say that this job chose me. This worst of jobs accepts me!”

Having no land, no capital, Di is living on war remnants. As a commando in the war, Di knows clearly the specs and characteristics of every kind of bomb and mine.

At 12 noon, Di and his son were absorbed in their job. The father stood in a 3m hole, using a shovel to dig deep into the ground. The son stood above the hole, using a knife to look through shovelfuls of soil dug up by his father. His eyes shined whenever he saw a mortar or bullets.

Di said to be safe, bomb hunters often dig up exploded bomb holes and stay away from small holes, where bombs haven’t exploded yet.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Tam, 46, in Yen Minh village, Gio Linh district.

“Every time I strike my shovel into the ground, I have to be very careful and I think of my three children at home,” Di said.

A hundred metres from Di’s hole, Mr. Bay Hien and his group were bailing out water and shoveling soil from a hole to collect bullet covers and bullets.

Hien said his group numbers ten people. Some days they collect 1000 bullets, sold for a million dong. Besides mortars, M79 bullets, submachine guns, rockets and bombs are available.

War waste hunters said they can sell small bullets for 1000 to 2000 per unit and big ones for several dozens of thousand to a hundred thousand dong. Some lucky people found the wing of an aircraft and earned 5 million dong on it.

According to statistics of Hai Thai commune, almost 905 families in the commune have at least one member doing this job. Occupational accidents occur very often.

Le Quang Thanh, Hai Thai commune’s official in charge of social affairs, said over 100 people have died and 32 injured so far this year due to bombs and explosives.

War waste hunters don’t want to talk or be questioned about their job because they are afraid of bad luck. Each time one leaves home to look for war waste, their family members are very worried at home.

VietNamNet/VnMedia