A ceremony to start the search for, collection and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts who laid down their lives during wartime in Cambodia, in the 2023 – 2024 dry season (the second phase), was held at the Hoa Lu International Border Gate in the southern province of Binh Phuoc on March 1.

The event was organised by the provincial Steering Committee for search, collection and identification of fallen soldiers' remains (Steering Committee 515).

Previously, during the first phase of the mission in the 2023 – 2024 dry season, Team K72 under the provincial Military Command collected and repatriated the remains of 43 volunteer soldiers and Vietnamese experts found in Kratie and Kampong Thom provinces of Cambodia. The remains were then reburied in Binh Phuoc’s martyrs' cemetery on February 2.  

In the second phase, the team will continue their mission in the mentioned-above localities.

Addressing the ceremony, Colonel Pham Nhu Quan, political commissar of the provincial Military Command and deputy head of the Standing Board of the provincial Steering Committee 515, reminded the searching team to maintain close coordination with the authorities, armed forces, and people of the host country to gather more information about fallen soldiers, and expediting the repatriation of their remains back to their homeland.

After more than two decades, Team K72 has so far collected and repatriated 2,853 sets of remains of Vietnamese voluntary   soldiers and experts from Cambodia.

VOV