Sign up for our free e-mail newsletter Also see: Today's Top Stories This Story National Geographic Channel E-mail this story Sponsored in part by Make the New Year a Smart Year Save 43 percent on National Geographic BONUS: Order online, get FREE collector's edition Vietnam Villagers Find Profit, Risk in Bomb Hunting Zoltan Istvan National Geographic Channel January 7, 2004 In the early morning, in central Vietnam's mist-shrouded Dakrong village, Ho Hun, a farmer, kisses his infant son good-bye and begins his trek to the Truong Son Mountains near the former DMZ, or demilitarized zone. Carrying a shovel and walking in old flip-flops, he looks like any one of Vietnam's 60 million farmers. But Hun rarely farms anymore. Like hundreds of other villagers along the DMZ, in the Quang Tri province, Hun is digging for live American bombs, which he will recover and sell. On average, Hun finds at least one bomb a week. Last year, sale of steel from the bomb casings more than doubled his annual farming income to nearly U.S. $700. Read the full "Digging for bombs and collecting war metal might make good money, but believe me, the danger involved is not worth the risk," said 55-year-old Ku Men, who lost his left leg below the knee when he stepped on a land mine. (Below) Ho Hun, a farmer from the rural village of Dakrong in the Quang Tri province of central Vietnam, earns the majority of his annual income digging up live bombs that American planes dropped during the Vietnam War. | |
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