On August 6, information from the Steering Committee for searching, repatriating and identifying martyrs' remains of Khanh Hoa province, as of July 31, the whole province has received and coordinated to respond to 46 documents related to information about martyrs and martyrs' graves.
At the same time, collecting and processing information in 52 areas, it is expected that there will be about 195 martyrs' graves. Among these, there are 7 locations suspected of being mass graves with about 225 remains, but there are still 2 areas that do not have enough basis to identify them as martyrs' graves.
The specialized force also organized field surveys in 32 areas, expected to have about 135 martyrs' graves and searched for and repatriated 5 martyrs' remains.
Regarding the work of identifying martyrs' remains, so far the units have exhumed 1,517 graves, reaching nearly 72% of the plan.
Through inspection, 907 graves are eligible for biological sample collection for DNA testing, of which 99 samples have been handed over to the Military Forensic Institute. Sampling has been completed at 5 out of 7 martyrs' cemeteries in the province.
Regarding the work of verifying martyrs' remains, on August 5, the Team for Searching and Repatriating Martyrs' Remains under the Khanh Hoa Provincial Military Command coordinated with the Van Ninh Commune Military Command to organize field surveys at Hon Chao mountain peak - a revolutionary base area during the resistance war against France and the United States.
This is a particularly rugged terrain area, located near the old liaison road, with many bomb craters and precarious rocky rows. To access the scene, the survey force had to travel more than 10 km through the forest with a large slope.
Functional forces identified 3 locations suspected of having martyrs' graves in this area. During the field survey, the working group continued to discover another location suspected of having martyrs' graves, located not far from the three locations previously identified.
According to the Steering Committee, in the first week of August, along with receiving and verifying information provided by people, the Provincial Team for Searching, Repatriating and Identifying Martyrs' Remains continued to survey in Do Vinh ward, Phuoc Dinh commune, Tay Nha Trang ward, Bac Nha Trang ward, Hoa Thang commune, Ninh Hai commune, Van Ninh commune.
Specifically in Dien Khanh and Phuoc Ha communes, units are continuing to consolidate dossiers, compare historical documents and witnesses to have sufficient grounds to report to competent authorities to organize conclusions.
Functional forces continue to carry out the search process for the cases identified in Anh Dung and Suoi Dau communes; prepare to take remains samples at Dien Khanh Martyrs' Cemetery.
The Steering Committee also requested the Military Command of communes to proactively coordinate with functional sectors to collect and verify information, review historical records, meet with witnesses and veterans to accurately verify locations suspected of having martyrs' graves before organizing a concluding conference.
For cases where relatives have not yet identified the initial burial place, the locality needs to guide them to prepare a dossier according to the death certificate and related documents to send to the competent authority for settlement.
The Steering Committee continues to call on organizations, individuals and people when they have information related to martyrs and martyrs' graves to contact the Team for Searching and Repatriating Martyrs' Remains under the Khanh Hoa Provincial Military Command (Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hai Son - Political Commissar of the team, phone: 0338. 294. 707).
Or the nearest local military agency to provide information, contributing to speeding up the search, repatriation, and identification of heroic martyrs.
