A Vietnam War-era artillery shell exploded Sunday, killing two men as they were attempting to cut it up.

A similar incident killed three men a week earlier.

Police say the latest blast occurred at an industrial park in the city of Danang, which was a major air base for U.S. and South Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War.

Authorities say the two men, aged 44 and 52, had scavenged the 175-millimeter shell and tried to cut it up, in hopes of selling the parts for scrap.

A week earlier, three men were killed while trying to salvage materials from a 105-millimeter shell in central Quang Ngai province.

According to Vietnamese government figures, unexploded ordnance has killed more than 42,000 people since the war ended in 1975.