Remains of migrants from Myanmar unearthed at Thai camp
The remains of Muslim migrants from Myanmar have been unearthed from several graves at a human-trafficking camp in southern Thailand.
Lieutenant General Prawut Thavornsiri, who is a spokesman for the Royal Thai Police, said on Tuesday that the graves were discovered on Monday evening at a jungle camp in the mountains of the southern province of Songkhla, which borders Malaysia.
He added that the latest camp was found west of Malaysia’s town of Padang Besar in Songkhla. The town is located on the border.
Thai security forces recently discovered more than 30 graves on a steep hillside at a nearby camp in the same troubled region.
“We found the second camp yesterday evening,” media outlets quoted national police spokesman, Prawut Thavornsiri, as saying, adding, “We also found five graves but cannot yet confirm whether any bodies are in them. Authorities will look into this.”
Meanwhile, Thai Police Colonel Triwit Sriprapa said authorities also found three people near the second camp looking exhausted and malnourished.
“We think this camp probably moved from a different location once the traffickers were tipped off that authorities were searching for more camps on this mountain range,” Sriprapa told reporters.
The dead are believed to be Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh who died of disease or starved to death. Smugglers abandoned the sick men when they moved Rohingya migrants across the border into Malaysia.
Thousands of migrants from Myanmar, mainly from the Rohingya Muslim community, often make the dangerous sea crossing into southern Thailand.
The Thai government has been criticized for pushing boatloads of Rohingya Muslims entering Thai waters back out to sea, and for holding migrants in overcrowded facilities.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly called on Myanmar’s neighboring countries to accept Rohingya Muslims fleeing the state-sponsored bloody communal violence back home.
The UN recognizes Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims as one of the world’s most persecuted communities. The Muslims have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since Myanmar’s independence in 1948.
JR/HSN/SS
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