Soldiers carefully arranged the sample containers in the aircraft's cabin. Temperature and humidity are controlled by regulations to preserve the biological samples throughout the journey.

At 7:30 AM, following a handover ceremony, units from the Ho Chi Minh City Command, the City Steering Committee for Fallen Soldiers' Remains Search, Military Region 7, and Division 370 loaded over 7,100 samples of remains for DNA testing onto a CASA C-295 aircraft at Tan Son Nhat Airport's military terminal, bound for Hanoi.

The CASA C-295 is a Spanish-made tactical military transport aircraft with two turboprop engines. It measures 24.5 m in length, has a range of 4,600 km, and a maximum takeoff weight of 23 tons. Vietnam operates three of these aircraft for military transport and logistics missions.

After the 71 sample containers were loaded, a specialized vehicle towed the aircraft to a technical inspection point before takeoff.

The DNA samples were collected by a specialized unit under the Ho Chi Minh City Command from the graves of unidentified fallen soldiers at 18 cemeteries across the city.

Major General Vu Van Dien, Commander of the Ho Chi Minh City Command, stated that the sampling process took nearly half a year, carried out with meticulous care, and involved digitizing data. The samples were transported by military aircraft to expedite the process and ensure safety.

The 71 specialized containers holding the remains samples for DNA testing were numbered and carefully arranged before being loaded onto the aircraft.

After a journey of approximately three hours, the aircraft was expected to land at Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi. The sample containers will then be transported by specialized military vehicles to the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology for analysis, where they will be cross-referenced with biological samples provided by relatives to identify the fallen soldiers.

Teams of soldiers successively carried the sample containers into the aircraft's cabin. According to protocol, bone samples are collected following strict standards, mechanically cleaned, placed in sterile instruments, and sealed before transport.

At 8:45 AM, the transport aircraft carrying 7,104 remains samples for DNA identification took off from Tan Son Nhat Airport, heading towards Hanoi.

This operation is part of the "500-Day-Night Campaign," launched from 15/3/2026 to 27/7/2027, commemorating the 80th anniversary of Invalids and Martyrs' Day. The campaign aims to collect approximately 7,000 remains and identify fallen soldiers from 18,000 biological samples.

Thanh Tung - Dinh Van