A homeowner in central Vietnam has discovered five mass graves containing nearly 200 skeletons underneath his house.

The bones are scattered beneath the property of Duong Van Phong, 46, a resident of Quang Tho Ward, Ba Don District, Quang Binh Province.

According to Phong, he discovered the remains just over a week ago and is currently having them exhumed and then interred at local cemeteries.

The skeletons were just two meters below the surface, Phong elaborated, and were in a state of advanced decay. According to other eyewitness accounts, only small pieces as long as a finger were visible.

By Phong’s estimate, there were as many as 200 skeletons under the property, some of which were buried with various pieces of stoneware.

Local authorities have been assisting with the collection of the skeletons for interment as well as their identification, according to Le Dinh Luong, chairman of Quang Tho Ward.

According to local elders, Phong’s house sits above an old graveyard used hundreds of years ago by villagers of Tho Ngoa Village in Quang Thua Commune.

Others have been arguing that the skeletons belonged to Vietnamese soldiers who fought French colonialists occupying Vietnam at the end of the 19^th century.

Pieces of bone are unearthed from beneath the house of Duong Van Phong in Quang Tho Ward, Ba Don District, Quang Binh Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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