Mass graveyard with Rohinya bodies found near Thai Malaysian border

[sfokevin]

It's not all smiles in this land...

Makes one pause...

[Happy Grumpy]

It's certainly sad when being penniless and illegal, at the hands of the Thai authorities is a better option.

[Sunderland]

The barbaric murderers are no better than World War 2 Nazis. Evil bastards who deserve to go to Hell.

[Strangebrew]

That is 33 lives that have been lost. 33 sons/daughters, brothers/sisters and/or Fathers and Mothers.

<deleted> people, have some sense of gravitas. They were just people like you and me, seeking a better life. Who knows? There might have been the next Tesla/Einstein/Pascal amongst them.

Show some respect. It is always someone's loss.

Sometimes the callousness of this board smacks me in the face, and I come out with a bloody nose. This really is a tragedy.

Whoa we reading same article?

[thedude82]

"they died of sickness or shot themselves"....Thailand, the only country that still believes in Santa Claus...

[dabhand]

There is an article in the DM (for those that can access it) with some rather graphic photos.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3064075/Horrifying-pictures-Malaysian-human-traffickers-camp-50-prisoners-left-starve-death-bamboo-cages-pits-smugglers-abandoned-die.html

Interestingly they note that a Bangladeshi guy was found alive. He is now in a local hospital. Just hope that he is being protected...........! Although more likely to be charged with visa offences!

[montereyjp]

Here is what I find a little baffling.. There must be hundreds if not thousands of NGO's when you combine Thailand, Myanmar, Lao, and Cambodia.. And I believe that a majority are sent to help the impoverished, especially those who are most at risk of being trafficked so how did this happen without any NGO's knowing? I am sure there must be Intel on where these camps are or usually are.. So why not get a jeep and some body guards and look around? There would be obvious risk but if you are in Thailand or Lao or anywhere in the region the locals or whoever is doing the trafficking would not want to start killing NGO's.. right??? You would think with all the Intel and satellites with super cameras they could target the trafficking camps and then simple send some NGO's in to check it out.. you would not have to go paramilitary or send in a killer drone. .. Just saying..

[rametindallas]

How many Rohinya have to die before the UN calls it genocide?

[BestBitterPhuket]

This is proof that there are some extremely evil people in higher places in Thailand, people who would have been locked up in prison for life in a civilized country, but here they are living protected lives in luxury, earned by sucking the blood out of the poor and helpless, whether they are slaves on the fishing boats or trafficked refugees. This stain will not go off Thailand. It shows the outside world that the Thai governments of the last decades, have done NOTHING to combat these evil people, which is the same as assisting them in their evil doings.

[NongKhaiKid]

A camp used as a detention centre for 300 people? 33 bodies, and no-one knew? Defies belief.

A lot of people must have known what was going on.

Sad to say that so much can happen here that no one, especially in official positions, ' see '.

We are talking about human suffering and lives so this may not be the best example but look who many houses, resorts etc are built in plain sight on encrached land but local authorities know nothing ?

We all know the reasons why such things happen.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

From the AFP report:

In January, Thai authorities confirmed more than a dozen government officials -- including senior policemen and a navy officer -- are being prosecuted for involvement or complicity in human trafficking.

Are they, really? Because, I remember the announcement, and then I never remember hearing anything further on the topic, including it ever being revealed just who was being supposedly prosecuted.

Here's the thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/796285-thai-officials-prosecuted-for-human-trafficking/

Not a single name mentioned. Not a single photo shown. Not then... not ever since.

Anyone in jail? Anyone in trial? Anyone sentenced by a court?

[Lite Beer]

TRAFFICKED MIGRANTS
Mass migrant graveyard
THE NATION May 2, 2015 1:00 am

SONGKHLA: -- Over 30 graves found at area used to smuggle migrants into Malaysia: Police

AT LEAST 32 shallow graves believed to belong to trafficked migrants were discovered |yesterday on a remote and rugged mountain in border district Sadao, in Songkhla.

The bodies were discovered at a so-called "waiting area" for the migrants before they were sneaked through the border into Malaysia.

Among the graves, at an abandoned shelter, a Bangladeshi man was found alive. It is believed that he was left there to die as he was sick. He is being treated at a local hospital and is in stable condition.

Police want to talk to him to gather more information on the traffickers.

National police chief General Somyot Pumpunmuong said he had ordered provincial police to search the area and exhume the bodies.

A rescue worker; Sathit Kamsuwan, said: "There are 32 graves, four bodies have now been exhumed and are on their way ... to hospital to for an autopsy. The bodies were all decayed. More bodies are expected to be found."

As of press time, the process of exhuming the bodies was suspended due to heavy rain. The job is slated to resume today.

Phuketwan online quoted Sathit as saying Bangladeshi survivor's muscles were severely wasted.

The local hospital confirmed the Bangladeshi man had survived and was in a stable condition.

Sathit said about 200 Army, police and rescue workers had to climb on foot into the jungle for 50 minutes to reach the site.

After the bodies were exhumed, he said, they were numbered and placed in bags.

Officials had to carry the bodies out because ambulances could not cross the terrain.

"We have counted 32 grave sites, plus one body above the ground so far. There is one survivor,"’ Sathit said.

The police chief said the discovery of the shelter and the graves follow the arrests of a group of Rohingya in Tambon Huasai in the same district.

The subsequent investigation led police to information that the traffickers had a place to house the migrants on Hua Sai Mountain before secretly taking them to Malaysia, he said.

He described the shelter as a resting and waiting place for migrants.

"It is believed that the graves were of those who died during the journey … After the bodies are exhumed, there will have to be autopsies to determine the causes of the death," he said.

Somyot said the police investigation discovered that migrants, possibly Rohingya, were moved to Malaysia two days ago.

Asked about the traffickers, the police chief said the initial probe indicated the gang comprised Myanmar, Malaysians and Thais.

The waiting site could have been used for long time, given the number of graves, he said.

He added that police would ask the village headman of the area to confirm whether the shelter was in Thai territory.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Mass-migrant-graveyard-30259184.html

-- The Nation 2015-05-02

[lemonjelly]

A detention camp in the forest on the border; and everyone knows who patrols and controls that area.

[silent]

That is 33 lives that have been lost. 33 sons/daughters, brothers/sisters and/or Fathers and Mothers.

<deleted> people, have some sense of gravitas. They were just people like you and me, seeking a better life. Who knows? There might have been the next Tesla/Einstein/Pascal amongst them.

Show some respect. It is always someone's loss.

Sometimes the callousness of this board smacks me in the face, and I come out with a bloody nose. This really is a tragedy.

Whom are you refering to please.......there's only 4-5 posts of which none seem abusive or callous?

It's either being preemptive or sarcastic.

[Lite Beer]

Police say Rohingyas may have died of illnesses or fatigue

BANGKOK: -- Thai police suspected that the Rohingyas who were buried at a graveyard in a mountainous camp near the Thai-Malaysian border might have died of diseases or illnesses while they were being held by human traffickers before being smuggled to the third countries.

Pol Maj-Gen Aekkapob Prasitwattanachai, deputy commissioner of the 9th Region Provincial Bureau, led about 100 police from Songkhla and Sadao district, military personnel, immigration police and rescue workers to the camp on top of KhaoKaew in Sadao district, about 300 metres from the Malaysian border where the Rohingyas were kept by human traffickers.

The camp was already abandoned some time ago, but one was left and found by the officials on Friday. He was very sick and then rushed to a hospital in Padang Besar.

Rescue officials dug up five holes in the burial site and recovered four decomposed bodies who were believed to have died several days ago. The bodies were later sent to Songkhla Nagarind hospital for autopsy to determine the actual causes of death.

Pol Maj-Gen Aekkapob said that it could not be determined how many bodies were buried in the graveyard. Initially, he said he suspected the Rohingyas might have died of illnesses or fatigue while being held in the camp awaiting to be smuggled to third countries.

He said that officials were investigating how this group of Rohingyas arrived there and who were responsible for bringing them there.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/police-say-rohingyas-may-have-died-of-illnesses-or-fatigue

-- Thai PBS 2015-05-02

[Beng]

Still lots of work to do for the PM.

[simple1]

Here is what I find a little baffling.. There must be hundreds if not thousands of NGO's when you combine Thailand, Myanmar, Lao, and Cambodia.. And I believe that a majority are sent to help the impoverished, especially those who are most at risk of being trafficked so how did this happen without any NGO's knowing? I am sure there must be Intel on where these camps are or usually are.. So why not get a jeep and some body guards and look around? There would be obvious risk but if you are in Thailand or Lao or anywhere in the region the locals or whoever is doing the trafficking would not want to start killing NGO's.. right??? You would think with all the Intel and satellites with super cameras they could target the trafficking camps and then simple send some NGO's in to check it out.. you would not have to go paramilitary or send in a killer drone. .. Just saying..

Why do you believe NGO's would be immune from being targeted for elimination in Thailand? In the past ten years or so 17 activists have been murdered by those whose interests they threaten.

[Nick167]

Ah! Thainess again! This country is beyond salvation! What the hell is the US or UN saying anything? Bloody hypocrites.

[JAG]

How could this be possible? 200 to 300 humans that could be kept from public eyes. If its not the work of the salaried government employees then who?

If the police were paid off, the military paid off, local government officials paid off and private citizens frightened off then yes it is possible.

Of course it may be that the police, military and or government officials were actively involved.

A lot of stones need turning over.

[Mr Somtam]

Money number one - human suffering mai pen rai...

[fareastguy]

Thailand can't seem to get anything right at the moment... just digging one hole after another !!!

[Lite Beer]

Thai authorities resume dig at migrant mass grave site
Agence France-Presse
PADANG BESAR

Thai authorities on Saturday resumed the excavation of a mass grave site in a remote patch of jungle where migrants believed to be from Myanmar and Bangladesh were held for months by people smugglers in appalling conditions.

Eight bodies have been recovered so far from the abandoned camp in Sadao district, in Thailand’s Songkhla province bordering Malaysia, but efforts to dig up the remainder of the 30 graves were hampered overnight by heavy rain.

The cause of their deaths is not yet clear, but further grim details emerged Saturday of the conditions endured by the migrants, in what Thailand’s police chief has described as a "virtual prison camp" where migrants were held in makeshift bamboo cages.

Doctors treating the two sole survivors -- men aged 25 and 35-years-old -- told AFP their patients were suffering from a range of ailments.

"Both are malnourished, have scabies and lice," doctor Kwanwilai Chotpitchayanku told AFP at Padang Besar hospital.

"The older man could not walk, he had to be carried off the mountain. He hadn’t eaten anything for two days before he was found. He told the translator he had a fever in the jungle for two months."

Doctors said the men had not been fully identified but were from either Bangladesh or Myanmar.

Both men were rigged to IV drips and were frail despite their young ages, according to an AFP reporter.

The border zone with Malaysia is criss-crossed by trafficking trails and is notorious for its network of secret camps where smuggled migrants are held, usually against their will, until relatives pay up hefty ransoms.

"The camp is located high up on a hill," Police General Aek Angsananont, national police deputy commissioner, told AFP, adding exhumations of the shallow graves had resumed on Saturday.

A rescue workers told AFP four of the dead were "skeletons" while the fifth died just a few days ago, seeming to indicate the camp had been in existence for some time.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Thai-authorities-resume-dig-at-migrant-mass-grave--30259212.html

-- The Nation 2015-05-02

[Oziex1]

Here is what I find a little baffling.. There must be hundreds if not thousands of NGO's when you combine Thailand, Myanmar, Lao, and Cambodia.. And I believe that a majority are sent to help the impoverished, especially those who are most at risk of being trafficked so how did this happen without any NGO's knowing? I am sure there must be Intel on where these camps are or usually are.. So why not get a jeep and some body guards and look around? There would be obvious risk but if you are in Thailand or Lao or anywhere in the region the locals or whoever is doing the trafficking would not want to start killing NGO's.. right??? You would think with all the Intel and satellites with super cameras they could target the trafficking camps and then simple send some NGO's in to check it out.. you would not have to go paramilitary or send in a killer drone. .. Just saying..

In the ideal world the sophisticated surveillance systems would be used to combat this appalling business, however I think Edward Snowden has revealed that too much of this seems to be pointed at us.

Thailands crimes will to some degree fly under the radar while we are watching Russia and The Middle East.

There is hope as the US and UN have Thailand on the agenda for human rights abuses and the EU has a warning in place for illegal fishing.

Justice will prevail, just when is the question.

[Suffinator]

T3 is obviously having no impact. Time to start with sanctions and trade embargoes.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

How strange ... another instance of the Keystone cops arriving just after their intended targets have fled...

It's really kind of an art form for Thailand... the hub of late arriving raids.

[dcutman]

The reports allege that Thai immigration officials collaborated with the traffickers by transferring Rohingya held in Thailand to the custody of the traffickers. A high-ranking police official confirmed to journalists the existence of the camps and acknowledged an informal policy called “option two,” which relies on smuggling networks to expel Rohingya migrants, including asylum seekers, from Thailand. http://burmatimes.net/thailand-protect-rohingya-boat-children/

[ourmanflint]

I think the policeman is probably right!

A 10% mortality rate seems about what you would expect for migrants when kept locked up in bamboo cages in the middle of the thai jungle for weeks on end with little water or food.

Everyone relax, it has been adequately explained!

[DaveE13]

truly disgusting reading those reports dcutman.

lets see what the RTA will do to wipe out these traffickers.come on pm.

[ExPratt]

Global concern grows as Rohingya bodies surface in Thailand -

Thirty bodies said to belong to Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants were discovered in southern Thailand on May 1 as global concern and awareness grows over what some claim are the makings of “genocide” in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

According to Human Rights Watch, a joint Thai military-police taskforce found the bodies at an abandoned human trafficking camp. They were buried in shallow graves while others weren’t even buried at all, covered with clothes and blankets on the jungle canopy floor by human traffickers. The people were said to have died from starvation and disease.

Some comments from Human Rights watch are quite interesting. Apologies if posted before

http://www.mizzima.com/news-international/global-concern-grows-rohingya-bodies-surface-thailand?

[Just1Voice]

Says they may have died from sickness and disease. Sure, and they ALSO may have died from beatings and starvation. But hey, what do I know?