54 Burmese Migrants Suffocate On Thai Soil

[scyriacus]

54 Myanmar Workers Suffocate in Thailand

There are about a million Burmese workers registered to work in Thailand and millions more who work mostly as laborers .....

--AP 2008-04-10

it's surely sad and i deeply regret that those things must happen.

but it raises new questions:

1. why do we 'farangs' have so many problems to get a 1 year non-immi visa and/or a work permit? i've been told, that i need to have 800,000 baht in a thai bank account. how did these million legal burmese come here? 800,000 each??

2. we really could help the thai people with teaching them english, but would get no permit to do so (while NOT taking any jobs from poor thais, because even their 'so-called' english teachers simply cannot teach english, as we all experience everyday.

3. the smugglers themselves are mostly also poor abused people. the profiteers are those who employ illegals at nearly no risk. THAT needs to be changed.

4. cheap labor-slaves are a shame for everyone. let us go after the capitalists who make this possible and pocket billions. THEY and only they cannot prosper without slaves......

[philipm]

My sympathies to the families of these people.

[Scott]

I don't think Thailand will get much good press. The press doesn't usually publish things that are good! The best they can hope for is to get less press and less severe press.

This is sad, it was bad people that took advantage of these unfortunate souls. There are bad people everywhere that will do bad things. It's not specific to Thailand and a good portion of the blame needs to be placed on the Burmese Junta for it's massive suppression of people.

Yes, there is corruption in Thailand and it is a big problem, but I very, very much that anyone wanted this to happen. It's a crime and those involved need to be punished.

[sriracha john]

how sad. thats awful.

and to think that the thai police have stuck the survivors in a nasty thai jail!

From one suffocating environment... to the next...

A group of Myanmarese illegal migrant workers, rescued from a cramped container, sit in a prison cell at a police station in Sooksamran district, Ranong province, south of Bangkok April 10, 2008. Fifty-four illegal Myanmar migrants, most of them women, suffocated as they were smuggled into Thailand in a cramped seafood container, police said on Thursday. Another 67 were rescued from the 20-ft container truck, with over 20 being treated in hospital, said a police officer in the western coastal Thai province of Ranong.

Reuters

[Richb2004v2]

Ah well, at least there will be plenty of dead body pictures for the front of the Thai newspapers tomorrow. They seem to like that.

[ratcatcher]

how sad. thats awful.

and to think that the thai police have stuck the survivors in a nasty thai jail!

From one suffocating environment... to the next...

A group of Myanmarese illegal migrant workers, rescued from a cramped container, sit in a prison cell at a police station in Sooksamran district, Ranong province, south of Bangkok April 10, 2008. Fifty-four illegal Myanmar migrants, most of them women, suffocated as they were smuggled into Thailand in a cramped seafood container, police said on Thursday. Another 67 were rescued from the 20-ft container truck, with over 20 being treated in hospital, said a police officer in the western coastal Thai province of Ranong.

Reuters

people pay to get into this hellhole ?

it's only a paradise for rich old FAT farang farts and the local thai rich population that does everything to suppres that kind of people but are happy to emploi them for a few thousand (4-5) baht to work as maid, ...

Take a look at the pictures above thaibkk and you will see a real hellhole. Thailand is not a hellhole. It has many problems just like a lot of countries where greed and inhumanity exist side by side.

Thailand is a paradise to the downtrodden Burmese.

The Burmese people have been under the boots of a despotic military junta for over 45 years. This situation is made possible by the complicity of countries like China and India, and to a lesser degree, Thailand.

The bottom line as always is money. Nothing more, nothing less. These people were looking for a slightly better life they thought was available in Thailand.

The smugglers and their end clients don't give a d@mn about human rights or human suffering. They are the ones who should be in a jail, not these poor souls.

Tibet, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia are among dozens more places on this planet where human life is dirt cheap.

Blame the rich Thais who use and abuse these refugee laborers if you will but until the U.N. gets serious about this problem nothing will happen.

I am sad for the dead people and their poor families but this is just another line in another chapter in the book of Man's Inhumanity to Man.

[plachon]

Terrible though it is, it's also extremely common. As said, we see Africans habitually chancing it across the med'; not to mention the influx of eastern Europeans to the West, and Chinese peasants too... even in northern Italy, where there were anti-Chinese immigrant riots not too long ago. I'm sure Americans could report the huge Latino influx north.

This is a direct result of globalisation and free-market capitalism, and the neo-colonialist policy of immigrationism where you institutionalise the import of cheap labour from the developing world to keep costs low for the relatively affluent and exploit the working classes of the host population and the poor immigrants... it's like covert slavery... it's promoted the massive growth of human trafficking and effective slave-trade that profits only criminal gangs like these and ruling elites, whether gangster regimes like in Burma, or corporate capitalist regimes like in the "West".

It isn't sustainable; it's also immoral.

Unfortunately, I think as global population growth seems to be exponential in some parts of the developing world, this is only going to get worse, as increasing numbers of desparate people fight over pressured resources. The rice riots across the world are alarming and depressing forebodings of what may come.

In pre-emptive response to any criticisms...

...No, I'm not a commie; but I am an ethical patriot: because I believe in putting people before profits; and because I believe in putting my own ethnic group before aliens and immigrants in my own country.

...Solution to human trafficking... The "West" needs to stop immigration, and take the issue to the developing world and basically re-instate a version of locally-supported colonialism, where we create Special Economic Zones in the developing world, and train and manage the people to manage themselves better... a sort of merger of the UN and NATO.

Of course, I'm well aware that this sounds naive and idealistic now; but I'm not so sure it will in a couple of decades time when world population is up another 50%...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

...and food (farmable land) and freshwater resources,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security...al_water_crisis

...even in Thailand... the Mekong could be reduced to a trickle over the next 30 years... Camel Treks across the Isaan desert might be nice though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security...o_food_security

At the end of the day, these poor people risked all because there ain't no Clint Eastwood to ride into town and kick out the baddies; because Burma's puppetmaster China has such an enormous positive trade balance with the "West", and "our" governments are too short-termist and cowardly to take on China... we can see from the pugilistic, arrogant, and aggressive response from the Chinese to the public ourpouring of revulsion with Chinese behaviour in Tibet before these Olympics the monster we're feeding.

The only hope is that the pro-Tibet, anti-China protests gather such momentum that they force democratic governments to stand up to China, and threaten the boycott of the Olympics... that's the key to stopping this kind of human trafficking happening in the first place.

I read though, that the influx of Burmese, and South Asians into Thailand is starting to alarm even Thai people. My wife, from a military family, is particulary hostile to this... including the Sino-Thais (the fair skinned ones with extra-long Thai made-up names - "chitty-chitty-bang-bangs" as my wife called them!)

Excellent post Cap'n Nemo! Yes, this terrible incident is no different from what happens daily between continental Europe and UK (that led to a similar tragedy of Chinese immigrants a few years ago) or continental Africa to mainland Europe, where Africans risk all in an overcrowded little boat to get into Europe and frequently end up drowning, even if they don't end up being arrested or exploited in some overcrowded sweatshop in Spain or Portugal. The main difference is that in Europe the legal proceedures are much tougher and it is likely the transgressors and traffickers will receive a much more severe sentence when caught.

It is globalisation that is to blame and we are equally to blame when we buy garden furniture from Burma, cheap seafood made in Thailand packed by Burmese workers or anything with a "Made in China" label for the underlying cause of the problem. Re-localisation is the only answer that can address the problem and is the antidote to globalisation, which inevitably will eventually be a system that leads to its own demise. Whether we allow it to also lead to the demise of the natural ecosystems that support us, depends very much on what this and the next generation does with its patterns of consumption.

[Tony Clifton]

We hired two Burmese for a while, brother and sister, free food and apartment, same working condition as the Thai women but we had to let them go. It was quite sad when they left, my wife and the women were all crying because they know how hard it is for them. We had no choice as we were denied legal papers for them and we were risking too much by keeping them. They went on to find more illegal work where they get ripped off by policemen making their monthly collection rounds. We did try to hire Burmese workers legally though the province's manpower outfit but even there we were asked to pay black money for each worker, money that went to the province governor's pocket, his own personal human trafficking scam. Scum.

Edited April 10, 2008 by Tony Clifton

[jimbeam1]

How very sad my heart goes out to them. Dying can not be nice, but that must have been horendous.

jb1

[scyriacus]

We did try to hire Burmese workers legally though the province's manpower outfit but even there we were asked to pay black money for each worker, money that went to the province governor's pocket, his own personal human trafficking scam. Scum.

you are perhaps right. if true, i demand life-sentences for professional trafficers (only because i am against the death penalty)

[JetsetBkk]

Here's the Phuket Gazette's story. I mis-read the title and thought it was a road traffic accident. But this is so much worse:

54 Burmese dead in trafficking horror

RANONG: Fifty-four Burmese, 17 men and 37 women, suffocated to death while being transported in the sealed container of a seafood delivery truck yesterday en route from Ranong to Phuket.

Col Kraithong Chanthongbai of Suksamran District Police today told the Gazette that police received a call from local people saying that a 10-wheeled truck had been left by the side of Petchkasem Rd in Village 3, Tambon Naka, Suksamran District, Ranong.

“Inside the container were 121 Burmese. We found 54 bodies: 17 men and 37 women. The other 67 were still alive,” Col Kraithong said.

Although the container on the truck has a refrigeration unit to preserve seafood, it was not switched on, he said.

“Now 10 of them are still in Suksamran Hospital. The rest are being held in police custody as illegal immigrants. We will present this case to the court tomorrow,” he added.

The survivors told police they were on their way to Phuket, he said.

“Those who died were dead for about an hour before we arrived,” he said.

“They said they banged on the walls of the container, screaming for the driver to stop. When he did and opened the door to the container, he ran away,” Col Kraithong said.

Col Kraithong confirmed that the truck, with Ranong commercial registration plates 70-0619, belongs to Rungruengthip Co Ltd.

“We are waiting to arrest the driver,” he said.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/index.asp?id=6397

Events like this make our problems seem so insignificant. We are so lucky.

RIP 17 men and 37 women.

[farang2002]

Very sad event.

And the consequences to the smugglers.........?

Likely nothing. Too much money to be made with the cheap labor.

5,000 baht to get them across the border? They would be working for more than a month in some fish processing plant just to pay the fee.

Life must be incredibly bleak over in Burma for these people to take the risks they do.

My heart goes out to them.

~WISteve

Seems like the poorest people suffer the most tragedy.

[djingen]

Oh my this is so safd the situation is so crazy in Burma right now people will do anything to get any kind of work in Thailand.

http://djingen.blogspot.com/2008/02/burma-...o-thailand.html

Danny , Sweden

[aaaaaa]

Nice to see the police arrest the few that survived@!

Bet you anything no arrests of the smuggling ring are made since the police are probably getting a cut of that!

....and generally just incompetent

of course, for them these illegal immigrants are just "Tang dao" - the word used only for people from neighboring and less developed countries. sort of "unwanted" people.

although from other hand - they ARE wanted here, since even Interior Minister has admitted that there is huge demand for cheap labor here, and if they try to be too strict - it may harm many industries.

without demand - there won't be a supply! as it is said for wild animals poaching and smuggling.

so, to really STOP this sort of thing (people smuggling - as animals) - first of all there must be something done about reducing this demand or entirely changing the whole system which depends on this cheap labor.

so this will hardly ever end !

it is just because these people have died the whole big story happened. or rather because dead people were found. if however they were not found (like hidden, or whole mess covered up) - the issue won't be even discussed in the News.

BTW on television News report it was said that these people were covered by piles of vegetables - sort of concealed ....

it seems like this detail is missing in the reports quoted here.

[djingen]

super editorial in The Nation today! Good work!!

read here: http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/04/11/opi...on_30070594.php

Danny, Sweden, Photographer

www.djingen.blogspot.com

[silk]

Update:

RANONG TRAGEDY

Owner of ill-fated truck arrested

RANONG: -- Police arrested the owner of the cold storage truck which was used to smuggle 121 Burmese, 54 of whom died from suffocation just two hours into their journey that started in Ranong province on late Wednesday.

Damrong Pussadee was arrested Thursday morning at his residence that doubled as a used-cars outlet in Ranong's Muang district.

Damrong admitted that the truck belonged to him and identified Suchon Boonblog as the driver of the ill-fated truck. Suchon fled when he saw the victims in the back of his truck.

It was not clear if Damrong admit to any wrong doing.

A senior police officer said that Damrong was just a middle man behind the human smuggling ring linked to the tragic incident late Wednesday.

He were allegedly paid Bt5,000 per each Burmese, which would mean that he would be receiving Bt500,000 per route.

--The Nation 2008-04-10

How is it possible to be just a middleman and receive the full amount per person he had to smuggle?

If he received the full amount per burmese, he was the person to distribute to "whoever" was involved.

I simply cannot understand, why the police does not come to this conclusion.

[Graphics]

What a sad way to die, hope they R.I.P.

Unfortunately, it is a greedy society. What money can do is amazing.

[silk]

What a sad way to die, hope they R.I.P.

Unfortunately, it is a greedy society. What money can do is amazing.

this does not answer my question. It is a fact that he received the full amount and this should be investigated

[warmwater7]

I know we all have our rants and complaints ( I'm one of the worst offenders).

Yet when stories like this come to light, it makes one sit back and take stock of the things we actually have, not just the things that we would like to have.

These poor people are being exploited in the most terrible way, their only crime is to be born poor.

I for one feel very fortunate at this moment, to be sitting in my A/C office having the time to surf the web whilst getting paid.

For many of the worlds population, the very things we take for granted are only dreams that will remain dreams forever.

Stories like this are very disturbing.

RIP to all.

well it is going to be difficult to blame thais here. it seems as where there is prosperity and a country in close proximity to it, that is not.......................

the hosing country becomes a pressure relief valve when economic times are bad,

it is sad for all involved.

believe in the lord.................but tie up your horse.

[silk]

I know we all have our rants and complaints ( I'm one of the worst offenders).

Yet when stories like this come to light, it makes one sit back and take stock of the things we actually have, not just the things that we would like to have.

These poor people are being exploited in the most terrible way, their only crime is to be born poor.

I for one feel very fortunate at this moment, to be sitting in my A/C office having the time to surf the web whilst getting paid.

For many of the worlds population, the very things we take for granted are only dreams that will remain dreams forever.

Stories like this are very disturbing.

RIP to all.

well it is going to be difficult to blame thais here. it seems as where there is prosperity and a country in close proximity to it, that is not.......................

the hosing country becomes a pressure relief valve when economic times are bad,

it is sad for all involved.

believe in the lord.................but tie up your horse.

Why do you say it is difficult to blame thais? It is obvious, the THAI person (owner of the container) , who received the money in full amount (burmese survivior mentioned THB 5000 per persom- THAI "receiver of the money" mentioned THB 5000 ) This means that he had to pay "whoever" with the money he had received from the burmese.

Looking forward to your answer to my question

[yankeechief]

Thats life in Southest Asia, get over it! All the righteous people who write about how terrible these things are the same ones who are here exploiting these people in these countries in some other form or fashion. Yes its a shame somebody had to die but lets not get carried away with, do think that in some of these places they would have cared if it were a truck load of farangs? Of course they would..... becasue of they would have missed out on the money we would have spent. Thats reality!

[sonnyJ]

how sad. thats awful.

and to think that the thai police have stuck the survivors in a nasty thai jail! and yes, I wonder if they ever do anything about the smugglers that recieved a nice big sum of money ffrom these poor immigrants.

where is the heart? surely the immigrants deserved a bit of nice treatment for the ordeal they went through. being arrested after such a sad event is the icing on the cake!!

and some rich smugglers are probably having a great time somewhere, enjoying life and its benefits... I wonder if a few police were ever paid off too by these guys.

appauling that the 'little guy' ends up at the bottom.

yup. absolutely... my heart goes to the families and the people that died.

and, 'shame' on the thai system

Yes tragic indeed.

Again education, education, education.

Remember they were/are illegal immigrants and have probably heard of the risks.

Of course the smugglers have paid the right people and will never be stopped by whis system we live in.

[sonnyJ]

Terrible though it is, it's also extremely common. As said, we see Africans habitually chancing it across the med'; not to mention the influx of eastern Europeans to the West, and Chinese peasants too... even in northern Italy, where there were anti-Chinese immigrant riots not too long ago. I'm sure Americans could report the huge Latino influx north.

This is a direct result of globalisation and free-market capitalism, and the neo-colonialist policy of immigrationism where you institutionalise the import of cheap labour from the developing world to keep costs low for the relatively affluent and exploit the working classes of the host population and the poor immigrants... it's like covert slavery... it's promoted the massive growth of human trafficking and effective slave-trade that profits only criminal gangs like these and ruling elites, whether gangster regimes like in Burma, or corporate capitalist regimes like in the "West".

It isn't sustainable; it's also immoral.

Unfortunately, I think as global population growth seems to be exponential in some parts of the developing world, this is only going to get worse, as increasing numbers of desparate people fight over pressured resources. The rice riots across the world are alarming and depressing forebodings of what may come.

In pre-emptive response to any criticisms...

...No, I'm not a commie; but I am an ethical patriot: because I believe in putting people before profits; and because I believe in putting my own ethnic group before aliens and immigrants in my own country.

...Solution to human trafficking... The "West" needs to stop immigration, and take the issue to the developing world and basically re-instate a version of locally-supported colonialism, where we create Special Economic Zones in the developing world, and train and manage the people to manage themselves better... a sort of merger of the UN and NATO.

Of course, I'm well aware that this sounds naive and idealistic now; but I'm not so sure it will in a couple of decades time when world population is up another 50%...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

...and food (farmable land) and freshwater resources,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security...al_water_crisis

...even in Thailand... the Mekong could be reduced to a trickle over the next 30 years... Camel Treks across the Isaan desert might be nice though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security...o_food_security

At the end of the day, these poor people risked all because there ain't no Clint Eastwood to ride into town and kick out the baddies; because Burma's puppetmaster China has such an enormous positive trade balance with the "West", and "our" governments are too short-termist and cowardly to take on China... we can see from the pugilistic, arrogant, and aggressive response from the Chinese to the public ourpouring of revulsion with Chinese behaviour in Tibet before these Olympics the monster we're feeding.

The only hope is that the pro-Tibet, anti-China protests gather such momentum that they force democratic governments to stand up to China, and threaten the boycott of the Olympics... that's the key to stopping this kind of human trafficking happening in the first place.

I read though, that the influx of Burmese, and South Asians into Thailand is starting to alarm even Thai people. My wife, from a military family, is particulary hostile to this... including the Sino-Thais (the fair skinned ones with extra-long Thai made-up names - "chitty-chitty-bang-bangs" as my wife called them!)

Hear,hear.

[Galong]

Thats life in Southest Asia, get over it! All the righteous people who write about how terrible these things are the same ones who are here exploiting these people in these countries in some other form or fashion. Thats reality!

Thanks for your caring concern over human life and your callus and unrealistic view on the posters on this thread. What a stupid, heartless thing to say!

Just because YOU don't care, it doesn't mean that we don't.

[Pairoh]

This kind of bad circumstance will not be the last, it will happen again,as long as human is industrial resoueces lushing to be the ample rich.

[Heng]

Remember they were/are illegal immigrants and have probably heard of the risks.

It's part of the hypocritical nature of a lot of posts on this thread. True, the loss of life is tragic, but it seems like if you're an illegal and you survive the journey, "you're a criminal and parasite." But if you lose your life trying to get over here (or any other country you're trying to get into), you're an "exploited person just looking for a better life."

[johna]

This type of senseless killing of illegal immigrants wile tragic will continue until the Thai government hand out tough prison sentences and finds to the smugglers and employers of illegal immigrants. That of course will never happen.

The truck driver will take the fall for this but; he is at the bottom of the pyramid and expendable

2 million legal/illegal Burmese in Thailand reflects the harsh political/economic conditions in Burma and that is a problem the international community will only give lip service to. The relationship between the Burmese and Thai governments is too profitable for both parties to change.

Locking up the survivors does seem cruel but, was the correct course of action for the Police after all the Burmese were breaking the law. To give them a get out of jail card free will only encourage more illegal immigrants. Not that they need any encouragement given the conditions in Burma

As long as there is money to be made by all involved nothing will change.

Exploitation of immigrants is common, in the UK employer's of immigrants pay them less than the legal minimum wage and when confronted claim that they did not know there was a minimum wage. All of these employer's avoid prosecution by making full restitution to their employees when caught

[sonnyJ]

Terrible though it is, it's also extremely common. As said, we see Africans habitually chancing it across the med'; not to mention the influx of eastern Europeans to the West, and Chinese peasants too... even in northern Italy, where there were anti-Chinese immigrant riots not too long ago. I'm sure Americans could report the huge Latino influx north.

This is a direct result of globalisation and free-market capitalism, and the neo-colonialist policy of immigrationism where you institutionalise the import of cheap labour from the developing world to keep costs low for the relatively affluent and exploit the working classes of the host population and the poor immigrants... it's like covert slavery... it's promoted the massive growth of human trafficking and effective slave-trade that profits only criminal gangs like these and ruling elites, whether gangster regimes like in Burma, or corporate capitalist regimes like in the "West".

It isn't sustainable; it's also immoral.

Unfortunately, I think as global population growth seems to be exponential in some parts of the developing world, this is only going to get worse, as increasing numbers of desparate people fight over pressured resources. The rice riots across the world are alarming and depressing forebodings of what may come.

In pre-emptive response to any criticisms...

...No, I'm not a commie; but I am an ethical patriot: because I believe in putting people before profits; and because I believe in putting my own ethnic group before aliens and immigrants in my own country.

...Solution to human trafficking... The "West" needs to stop immigration, and take the issue to the developing world and basically re-instate a version of locally-supported colonialism, where we create Special Economic Zones in the developing world, and train and manage the people to manage themselves better... a sort of merger of the UN and NATO.

Of course, I'm well aware that this sounds naive and idealistic now; but I'm not so sure it will in a couple of decades time when world population is up another 50%...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

...and food (farmable land) and freshwater resources,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security...al_water_crisis

...even in Thailand... the Mekong could be reduced to a trickle over the next 30 years... Camel Treks across the Isaan desert might be nice though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security...o_food_security

At the end of the day, these poor people risked all because there ain't no Clint Eastwood to ride into town and kick out the baddies; because Burma's puppetmaster China has such an enormous positive trade balance with the "West", and "our" governments are too short-termist and cowardly to take on China... we can see from the pugilistic, arrogant, and aggressive response from the Chinese to the public ourpouring of revulsion with Chinese behaviour in Tibet before these Olympics the monster we're feeding.

The only hope is that the pro-Tibet, anti-China protests gather such momentum that they force democratic governments to stand up to China, and threaten the boycott of the Olympics... that's the key to stopping this kind of human trafficking happening in the first place.

I read though, that the influx of Burmese, and South Asians into Thailand is starting to alarm even Thai people. My wife, from a military family, is particulary hostile to this... including the Sino-Thais (the fair skinned ones with extra-long Thai made-up names - "chitty-chitty-bang-bangs" as my wife called them!)

Hear,hear.

[Heng]

In the Chinese case, there's pretty much no stopping it unless these western countries are bold enough to make laws against its own citizens. They go to the west where they aren't restricted to having one kid. They have say 2-4 kids and send them home to China. The kids grow up between two cultures in the 'best of both worlds' thing, and when they have kids, they are already legal citizens of another country (at least in the US case if you spend enough time stateside). One brings ten. Ten bring a hundred.

[donna]

Thats life in Southest Asia, get over it! All the righteous people who write about how terrible these things are the same ones who are here exploiting these people in these countries in some other form or fashion. Yes its a shame somebody had to die but lets not get carried away with, do think that in some of these places they would have cared if it were a truck load of farangs? Of course they would..... becasue of they would have missed out on the money we would have spent. Thats reality!

what a heartless thing to say.

last night on BBC, there was a 10 second report on this tragedy, and what disturbs me is that if it were a bunch of foreigners being smuggled over for some kind of visa run (or whatever situation you want to slot in there), all hel_l would have broken loose. "54 foreigners with illegal papers die during a visa run" isnt such a nice headline, but does the fact that these people are burmese make thier lives any less worthy than ours just because we are born white? i personally dont think so. they are still human beings whose main crime was to want to come to thailand to earn some money in order to give their families a better life. is that such a bad thing? i mean, how many thousand people in their same situation have been accepted (in a fashion) into the thai community and are living an ok life now? they are certainly earning more than they would have had they stayed in myanmar, and im sure their families are benefiting from it.

the sad thing is, many of the deceased family members possibly dont even know that their daughter/mother/sister/wife etc, has passed away.

the smugglers should hang their heads in shame. reports such as this disgust me.