At 5:30 p.m. on April 18, two boys cycled through the gate of Mr. Ha Van Chuan's house in Thung Khe hamlet, Thanh Son commune, Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province.

Seeing that the two children were tired, hungry, and had blistered and swollen feet, Mr. Chuan and his wife called them into the house to feed them, bathe them, cut their hair, and reported it to the Mai Chau district police.

Mr. Bui Van Duy, a district police officer, said that during their initial conversation, the two children could not remember their full names. The boy who identified himself as his brother said his name was Chu, 15 years old, and his younger brother, Hinh, was about 13 years old. The children also could not remember the address of the village or commune where they lived, only saying they were in Muong Cha (suspected to be Muong Cha district, Dien Bien province).

The two boys are half-brothers. Their father's name is Vu A Khu, Chu's mother is Giang Thi Giong, and Hinh's mother is Thao Thi Su. Since their father passed away and their mother went to work far away, the two brothers have been collecting scrap metal to make a living and living in a temporary shack on the side of the road, but the address is unknown.

"We only have the most basic information because the two boys are Mong ethnic, have never been to school, and do not speak or understand Kinh language fluently," said Mr. Duy.

That same evening, Hinh and Chu were taken to headquarters to arrange accommodation and have their health checked. The unit also assigned officers who were fluent in the Mong language to encourage the children and at the same time exploit more information to support the search for relatives.

By the morning of April 19, when his health and spirit were stable, Chu added that he had started going to Hanoi about two weeks ago, after an acquaintance (who was not clear) gave him two old bicycles. Neither of them knew the way to the capital, so they decided to follow the main road, asking for directions as they went.

"Since the day my mother went to work, she has never come home to visit. People around her said she went to Hanoi to work. I miss her so I want to go find her," Chu said.

Mai Chau district police contacted Muong Cha district police and the education department of Muong Cha district, Dien Bien province to verify the information and find relatives of the two brothers, but by the afternoon of April 19, there were no results.

According to the district police officer, if it is true that from Muong Cha district, Dien Bien province to the place where Mr. Chuan and his wife helped in Mai Chau, Chu and Hinh traveled about 400 km.

Quynh Nguyen