More U.S. soldiers' remains in Vietnam repatriated

HANOI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Vietnam Office for Seeking Mission Persons transferred Monday custody of possible remains believed to be those of Americans who died during the conflict in Southeast Asia and recovered from excavation sites in Vietnam's central region.

At the repatriation ceremony at the Da Nang International Airport in central Da Nang city on Monday, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak and U.S. Army lieutenant colonel James Saenz, representing the U.S. government, received custody of the remains, according to a press release by the American Embassy in Vietnam. The ceremony marks the 106th post-war repatriation of remains from Vietnam.

To date, 883 Americans have been identified since 1975 -- 627 from Vietnam, 224 from Laos, 29 from Cambodia, and three from China. There are 1,763 Americans still unaccounted for from the war in Southeast Asia, including 1,353 in Vietnam, said the release.