Mass grave of migrants unearthed in Thailand
A mass grave believed to contain the remains of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh has been discovered at a human-trafficking camp in southern Thailand, security sources say.
Thai national police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung said the graves were discovered on Friday at a remote camp in the mountains of southern Songkla province, which borders Malaysia.
He described the site as a virtual "prison camp," where migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were held in makeshift bamboo cells.
"There are 32 places that look like graves and whether there is one body or several bodies in those graves, we will have to wait and see," media outlets quoted Poompanmoung as saying.
Meanwhile, Sathit Thamsuwan, a rescue worker at the site, said that the bodies were moved to a hospital for an autopsy.
"There are 32 graves, four bodies have now been exhumed and are on their way... to hospital to for an autopsy," Thamsuwan said, adding, "The bodies were all decayed."
Sources say 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 Muslims, make the dangerous sea crossing to 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.
The UN recognizes Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims as one of the world’s most persecuted communities.
Rohingya Muslims have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since Myanmar’s independence in 1948.
The Myanmar government has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslims.
JR/AS/MHB
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