Bomb disposal experts removed and disabled a 250 kg (551 lbs) wartime bomb from a local farmer's home in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

Le Huu Tan, a resident at Son Binh Commune, said he had thought that the bomb was just a lump of rock and often used it to chop wood on. "Only when it rained recently did I realize it was a bomb," he said.

The Vietnamese military said the bomb is a remnant from the Vietnam War. "Luckily he only used it to chop wood, you can't imagine what would have happened if he had tried to cook on it," a soldier said.

As of March 2017, an estimated 800,000 tons of ordnance still remained scattered across Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Unexploded bombs are found in all 63 provinces and cities across Vietnam, and have killed 40,000 people and injured 60,000 others since the end of the war in 1975.

The Vietnamese government estimates that it would take at least 100 years and $10 billion for Vietnam to clear all the unexploded ordnance.