25 July 2015


Vietnam defence minister returns to Vietnam - © How Hwee Young, EPA


Vietnam defence minister returns to Vietnam - © Luong Thai Linh, EPA

Hanoi (dpa) - Vietnamese Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh returned to Hanoi on Saturday after receiving medical treatment in France, an army official said.

"The minister returned to Hanoi from Paris this morning on a Vietnam Airlines flight and he left the airport directly for the office to start work," Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, told dpa.

An earlier dpa report mistakenly reported that the general had died after receiving treatment at a Paris hospital, citing a source at the hospital.

A photograph by local media showed Thanh walking to a car at the airport.