VlogB

• The US dropped more than 270 million bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War.
• An estimated 30% of the bombs remain unexploded and are scattered across the country.
• Some villagers use those bombs as scrap metal to build their houses.

Decades after the Vietnam War ended, there are around 80 million unexploded bombs left in Laos. Despite the danger they pose, some villagers use the bombs to build their homes.

Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in history.

US warplanes dropped more than 270 million bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War, according to the National Regulation Authority (NRA), the governing body for mine action in Laos.

"On average, that's equal to a bombing mission every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years," Sarah Goring, a grants and public information manager at Mines Advisory Group (MAG), told Insider. MAG is a nonprofit organization that clears unexploded ordnance (UXO) from affected lands.

Up to 30% of these bombs failed to detonate on impact, and they remain a deadly threat to local communities. Since 1964, more than 50,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO in Laos, per data from the NRA.

In many villages, these bombs and other war-time relics have become a staple of the landscape and of everyday life. Plane fuel tanks, for example, have found a second life as canoes.

The bombing missions were part of the US Army's efforts to destroy enemy supply lines along the Ho Chi Minh trail.

If fighter pilots were unable to complete their original mission due to bad weather, they also used Laos as a dumping ground to offload bombs before returning to base.

The villagers have managed to repurpose the bombs into different functions depending on their size. The casings of smaller bombs, like the one below, sometimes double as planters.

Villagers also use the unexploded bombs as scrap metal.

"The idea was to sell them for scrap metal because the price of scrap metal was high," Goring said of villagers who partook in the scrap metal trade. "And again, if you've got no income, people took the risk."

When the price of scrap metal had dropped significantly in 2008, MAG saw a massive reduction in accidents, she added.

In Ban Napia, a village in the Xiengkhouang province of Laos, some villagers sell cutlery made out of the metal from unexploded bombs.

"The UXOs were just another resource. They were everywhere, so we decided to make the most of what we have," La lok, a spoon-maker from the village of Ban Napia, told The Guardian.

Cluster munitions — small submunitions encased within a larger shell — were the most common type of bombs used on Laos, Goring told Insider. They are designed to detonate on impact, but not all of them did.

In addition to mechanical and human failure, the weather played a role in keeping some of the bombs from exploding. During rainy seasons when the ground is wet, some of the bombs might have failed to explode due to a softer landing.

Part of the danger stems from the fact that there is no way for villagers to know whether a bomb is still active, Goring said.

MAG has an emergency hotline that villagers can call, but many people are used to clearing the bombs themselves.

"We would never encourage it, but I can understand," Goring said. "What do you do? You find it in the middle of your paddy field that you might hit next year because you forget exactly where it is. So from their perspective, it's safer to move it to somewhere they're not farming."

Those who don't die from the explosions often suffer serious injuries.

"I met a woman a couple of years ago. She had an accident selling scrap to a trader. He tried to crack open the bomb, but it exploded and she lost her leg, and her son lost his eyesight," Goring said.

In 2021, there were 35 bomb-related accidents across Laos involving 66 people — 19 people were killed and 47 people were injured, she added, citing accident data.

"Since clearance work began in the early 1990s, more than 1.7 million bombs have been destroyed by MAG and other organizations in Laos through mine action work," Goring said.

MAG destroys most of the bombs where they are, rather than moving them elsewhere.

Before clearance, the team conducts a survey of the area to locate as many bombs as possible. They evacuate people and animals from the surroundings before proceeding with the removal.

MAG estimates it still needs to clear approximately 1,600 square kilometers of land in Laos.

The UXOs continue to limit Lao's tourism industry, which could potentially be a strong driver for economic growth in the country. 

Although there is still much work to be done, villagers are hopeful for a better future.

"It was very difficult after the war and we had to use any resources we could, even bombs, but maybe that's starting to change. Maybe my children will be the last generation that have to work with the bombs," Seeonchan, a spoon-maker from Ban Napia, told The Guardian.

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