Minnesota activists sound alarm on unexploded U.S. bombs in Laos
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Minnesota groups are spreading awareness of the millions of dangerous unexploded bombs in Laos.
The U.S. military dropped millions of bombs in Laos during the Vietnam war, but a third of them did not explode. Laotians have been removing the explosive objects for decades.
"Just to give you a context to what that feels or looks like, think of it as this: one planeload of bombs every eight minutes for 24 hours a day for 9 consecutive years," Loddy Tolzmann, an immigration attorney working for the Mines Advisory Group, told MPR News host Tom Weber there were about 580 thousand bombing missions in Laos.
Tolzmann said the U.S. government has increased funding to the group, but it isn't enough to clear the unexploded bombs that remain in Laos.
MPR News intern Michael Swearingen contributed to this report
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