VIETNAM: FARMERS ARE STILL BEING INJURED BY MINES LEFT DURING WAR

Vietnamese/Nat Vietnam's farmers are still falling victim to the war that ended twenty years ago. Thousands are maimed by munitions still scattered around the countryside. Farmers frequently step on mines in the fields. And many more are hurt scavenging weapons to sell as scrap. Peace came to Vietnam 20 years ago -- but casualties from the war are still mounting. Every year people are killed and many injured by leftover bombs and shells littering the fields. But for the peasants of Quang Tri province these bombs are a precious resource that helps alleviate their poverty. With a thirty-dollar battery-powered metal detector, a farmer can make five dollars in a day by searching near former American bases. In a province where per capita income averages just 320 dollars a year, the extra money that can be earned by scrap is sorely needed. Le Dan has been hunting for mines ever since the war ended. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) "Farming doesn't earn you money every day, only at harvest time, which is every three or six months. With this job, I can make income every day, so it's better that way. Crops take time to grow, so you might have to borrow money between harvests. If I go looking, I can get money to spend on every day things." SUPER CAPTION: Le Dan, Metal Scrap hunter Thousands of tons of scrap are dug up and sold each year. Dealers pay 10 to 20 cents a kilo for good steel, but much more for copper, aluminium and live explosive. The scavengers cut bombs and shells apart looking for the valuable innards. They treat live warheads casually. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) "Never get hurt. The bombs and bullets are all dead, the explosive inside is also dead. I've cut many of them open and never had a problem. There are special kinds that we don't know how to deal with, but the ones that we know, we all cut them apart. The ones that don't explode, we cut them up for aluminium and copper." SUPER CAPTION: Le Dan, Metal Scrap hunter Identical twin brothers Huynh and Hoa were both injured in November 1994 as they watched a neighbour cutting a shell apart. The neighbour was killed by the blast. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) "At about 1 o'clock I went to the path and saw a beggar. I followed him into the next house where he begged. I went in to watch, and then it exploded." SUPERCAPTION: Nguyen Duc Hoa, Bomb Victim Economic progress may save Huynh, Hoa and children like them from the hunt for scrap. There are jobs that pay two or three dollars a day nowadays. But few expect change to come soon. For the people of Quang Tri, the Vietnam War remains both a boon and a curse. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/df292a5d9f2cb5c518ed275e14e2d4fe Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork