Hanoi: Remains believed to be those of three American soldiers killed during the Vietnam War have been sent back to the United States.

An official of the US Missing in Action office in Vietnam, Ron Ward, said on Monday the remains were flown to Hawaii for identification on Saturday.

The remains were recovered over the past month from sites in central and southern Vietnam.

Nearly 1,800 US servicemen are still unaccounted for throughout Southeast Asia following the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975. Some 1,336 are unaccounted for in Vietnam alone.