Suspected mass grave site found in Tay Ninh Province

Military authorities in Tay Ninh Province on July 24 carried out a ground-penetrating radar survey at a site in Vinh Hamlet, Hao Duoc Commune, where a suspected mass grave containing the remains of Vietnamese soldiers is believed to be located.

According to information gathered by investigators, during the Vietnam war, enemy forces allegedly used bulldozers to collect the bodies of Vietnamese officers and soldiers before burying them in a bomb crater near Vinh Bridge.

The suspected burial site lies about 70 metres east of the bridge and around 20 metres from the roadside.

An initial survey covering roughly 2,000 square metres identified an area of disturbed ground believed to contain a large crater measuring more than 15 metres across. The radar survey reached a depth of about six metres but did not identify the bottom of the crater.

Military specialists are continuing to analyse the survey data before deciding on the next stage of the search.

To help verify the site's history, the Tay Ninh Provincial People's Committee has appealed to military units, veterans, former guerrilla fighters, militia members, former servicemen and residents who lived near Vinh Bridge during the war to provide information about past battles, burial locations, places where enemy forces may have gathered soldiers' bodies or other historical landmarks that could assist the investigation.

Authorities asked anyone with relevant information to contact Lieutenant Colonel Pham Quoc Phong, head of the Policy Division under the Political Department of the Tay Ninh Provincial Military Command, or local military commands.

Separately, the Tay Ninh Provincial Military Command said it had recovered the remains of two soldiers at a depth of about 1.4 metres in Tan Tay Hamlet, Tan Thanh Commune, on the same day.

The remains have been transferred to the Tan Thanh Commune Military Command for further procedures.