Mass grave unearthed at Vietnam airport

A Vietnamese military search unit has found a burial site at a southern airport which they believed was a mass grave of around 150 People's Army of Vietnam soldiers killed in the Tet Offensive nearly five decades ago.

Many items and body remains were found on Thursday morning in a pit to the southeast of Bien Hoa Airport, a U.S. airbase during the Vietnam War, in Dong Nai Province, which neighbors Ho Chi Minh City.

Witnesses said it was the burial site of around 150 soldiers from the communist troops who were killed during military campaigns in early 1968, known as the Tet Offensive.

Dong Nai provincial officials have been searching for the mass grave at the airport area for years, based on witnesses and old maps. Last month they also flew two U.S. veterans by helicopter to help identify the location of the grave, which was dug by South Vietnam soldiers.

Today Bien Hoa airport remains one of Vietnam's dioxin hotspots. Vietnamese military officials have said the airport area was the world’s worst dioxin contaminated site, citing data from Vietnam's defense ministry.