Two herdsboys sustained severe injuries while another lost four limbs when an alleged bomb left from the war era suddenly exploded on Saturday in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province.

The accident occurred at 9:30am when the boys were tending a herd of cows in Ai Nghia town, Dai Loc district. 

The victims are Phan Trong Hieu, 11, Phan Van Phuc, 11, and Ngo Van Phu, 13. The three boys are studying at the local secondary school Nguyen Trai.

Phuc and Phu are being treated at a general hospital in Quang Nam while Hieu, who lost his four limbs to the blast, is receiving emergency care at Da Nang hospital.

Hieu told his father Phan Van Nhi that he and the two other boys had found an item looking like a mug of water with a string attached. They said it exploded upon being touched.

In October this year, one schoolboy was killed and another was seriously injured when an UXO item exploded at their Le Hoa secondary school in Quang Binh central province. Investigations found that one of the boys had found an old piece of UXO and brought it to school to play with it during break time when it exploded.

Official figures show the US army discharged more than 15 million tons of bombs, landmines and other explosive materials on Vietnam, and around 800,000 tons of UXO were left behind after the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

Between 1975 and 2000, UXOs killed more than 40,000 people and injured 60,000 others in Vietnam.

The majority of UXOs are found in the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.