Dak Lak (VNA) – Remains of 17 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who laid down their lives in Cambodia during wartime were brought home by a search and repatriation team of Dak Lak province in the 2018 – 2019 dry season.

A meeting to review the search and repatriation in the 2018 – 2019 dry season was held by the People’s Committee of the Central Highlands province on August 1.

Officials reported that during the period, the search and repatriation team, also known as Team K51, of the Dak Lak Military High Command excavated more than 260 sites, finding and repatriating remains of 17 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts in Cambodia.

In July this year, they also excavated four sites in across Dak Lak province and found out remains of a martyr who was later identified and handed over to the martyr’s family for reburial in the central province of Binh Dinh.

Setting targets for the time ahead, officials said in 2020, the relevant force will repatriate remains of three – five martyrs buried in Dak Lak. They will also strive to bring home remains of 10 – 12 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts from Cambodia in the 2019 – 2020 dry season.

The provincial People’s Committee will direct the force to press on with mass mobilisation, especially in the Cambodian province of Mondulkiri bordering Dak Lak. Solemn reburial ceremonies will be held after each phase of repatriation to pay tribute to martyrs.-VNA