54 Burmese migrants died in suffocation

[peersmyanmar]

54 Burmese immigrants suffocate in truck

(BangkokPost.com) – Dozens of illegal Burmese immigrants were found dead inside a low-temperature container loaded onto a ten-wheeler truck at 1:00am Thursday morning.
Authorities had earlier been alerted to a truck abandoned by its driver on a roadside in Ranong province. Inside the container which the truck was carrying, At least 54 Burmese immigrants died, apparently from asphyxiation, while 21 others were injured and taken to hospital. Police arrested 44 healthy survivors.

Initial police findings state the truck was on its way to Phuket when the driver was alerted by the Burmese immigrants hidden inside the container that some people were beginning to suffocate. The driver then parked the truck and ran away after discovering that some of the immigrants had already died.

The illegal immigrants allegedly came into Thailand from Song Island in Burma before meeting up with the truck driver in hopes of being taken to Phuket province to find employment. Police said the truck belonged to Rung Thip Company.

Thai officials will conduct an autopsy on the bodies and alert Burmese authorities about the incident