US probes 3 Minnesotans missing in Laos

The U.S. government says it is looking into reports that three Laotian-Americans have gone missing in southern Laos.

According to relatives, the Minnesota residents went missing in early January in Savannakhet province on their way to a funeral.

The State Department says the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane has contacted the Lao government for further information.

Three bodies were recently found in a burned van in the province, and Khammanh Kongdaravong said relatives in Laos have identified her husband, Souli ), as one of the dead.

The circumstances of the fire are unclear.

The other missing men are Bounthieng Insixiengmai and Bounma Phannhotha.

Laos is currently facing international pressure over the unrelated disappearance of a prominent Lao social activist, Sombath Somphone.