HANOI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Since 1975 when the Vietnam War completely ended, unexploded ordnance (UXO) explosions have killed more than 40,000 people and injured 60,000 others, mostly breadwinners and children, local media reported on Thursday.

A ceremony was held in Vietnam’s central Quang Tri province on Thursday to mark the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, with the participation of more than 1,000 people, Vietnam News Agency reported.

There are about 800,000 tons of UXO left from wartime in Vietnam. The area of land contaminated or suspected to be contaminated with UXO totals over 6.1 million hectares, accounting for 18.7 percent of the country’s total area.

UXO scatters across Vietnam, as most of those bombs and landmines concentrate in the central region. A survey in 2017 by the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense shows that nearly 82 percent of Quang Tri’s area is contaminated with UXO.