France Defence Ministry said the country has repatriated from Vietnam the bodies of six soldiers who died in Dien Bien Phu, the country's last stand in colonial Indochina.

The Defence Ministry noted that those who remained unnamed were laid to rest in a cemetery for soldiers who lost their lives in the 1946-1954 Indochina war.

It added that the existence of the six bodies, "conserved in three different locations", had been reported to the French embassy in Vietnam in 2012, 2021 and 2022.

Vietnamese authorities approved the repatriation on March 25, as the bodies were exhumed the following day.

The ministry said experts studied the remains to establish their identities and confirm the identity of a sixth buried with a name. 

It added that Families would be allowed to claim the remains of their relatives, or choose to have them buried in a national cemetery.

Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam was the site of an epic battle against Vietnamese communist forces in 1954 that spelt the end of France's colonial empire in Indochina.

Reports have it that Vietnamese fighters hemmed in French forces who were equipped with superior weapons, and bombarded them with heavy artillery.

Vietnam's victory over the French in Dien Bien Phu led to the country's division into the communist-ruled north, headed by revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, and a pro-US southern regime.