A 28-year-old woman from Yala province was found dead in a canal along the Thai-Cambodian border after reportedly attempting to escape forced labour in Cambodia. Police said the woman, identified only as Faseeyah, died while trying to cross from Poipet back into Thailand near the Rong Kluea Market border crossing in Sa Kaeo province.
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Authorities believe Faseeyah had been deceived and sold into illegal labour in Cambodia. She was reportedly among a group attempting to cross the border via Phrom Hod Canal, a narrow but deep waterway connected to areas near the market. Investigators believe she became separated from the others and, as she could not swim, drowned while trying to cross.
Thai rangers patrolling the border were alerted and later discovered her body floating in the canal. Officials estimated the body had been in the water for at least three days before rescue workers recovered it and sent it for a post-mortem examination.
Faseeyah’s mother, Che Bungo Yusoh, 52, said she had not seen her daughter for six years. Near the end of May, her daughter contacted the family through a messaging application, transferred 4,000 baht to help with household expenses and asked her mother to care for her two sons. At the time, the family did not suspect anything was wrong.
Mrs Che Bungo said she does not believe her daughter simply drowned, noting that the mobile phone Faseeyah regularly used was never recovered. Only a newly purchased handset, reportedly intended as a gift for her sons, was found. She also said friends who had previously been in contact with Faseeyah blocked family members and deleted their connections, leaving them unable to obtain further information.
According to her mother, Faseeyah had previously worked at a Thai restaurant in Malaysia before marrying a man from Narathiwat. The couple had a son but later divorced. She subsequently remarried a man from Pattani, but the relationship ended during her pregnancy. After giving birth to her second son, she left home around 45 days later to seek work in Bangkok and never returned.
The family only learned that she had been working in Cambodia around the time of the Thai-Cambodian border conflict in July last year. They heard her voice for the first time in years in May 2026 and were informed of her death by a foundation.
The Bangkokpost reported that authorities are continuing post-mortem procedures as the family prepares to hold a memorial ceremony seven days after her death. Both of Faseeyah’s sons are now being raised by their grandmother.
Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post
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Adapted by ASEAN Now Bangkokpost 18 June 2026