VIENTIANE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Six people suffered serious injuries when a landmine detonated as people prepared land for the planting of cassava in southern Laos' Attapeu province.

The incident took place in Viengxay village of Phouvong district in Attapeu province, some 560 km southeast of the Lao capital Vientiane, on Jan. 11, Lao national radio reported on Tuesday.

The explosion wounded three females and three males, two of whom were children, according to the report.

From January to November in 2023, 10 people died in 18 unexploded ordnance (UXO)-related accidents that occurred across the country.

As indicated by the figures released in April 2023, from 1996 to February 2023, 1,808,254 UXO devices were removed and detonated in Laos, among which 1,056,393 were cluster bombs, 4,336 were large bombs and 2,456 were land mines.

A large number of UXO devices that remain in the ground have continued to cause physical damage and affect people's livelihoods. It is an obstacle to the use of land for agricultural production, and an obstacle to the socio-economic development of Laos.

Throughout 1964-1973, over two million tons of ordnance were dropped on Laos, of which 30 percent failed to explode. Over 270 million cluster munitions were dropped from U.S. warplanes, leaving an estimated 80 million live bomblets scattered and buried around the Southeast Asian country. Enditem

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