Illegal migrants graveyard discovered on Thai-Malaysian border

Illegal migrants graveyard discovered on Thai-Malaysian border

BANGKOK, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of graves containing dead bodies of illegal Myanmar migrants have been found in the woods straddling a border area between Thailand and Malaysia, police said on Saturday.

Thirty-two graves were found in the woods in the Thai border area of Padang Besar in Songkla province on Friday, which is only about 300 meters from the Malaysian border in Perlis state, the police said.

Four bodies of the dead Rohingyas were exhumed while the others are yet to be identified. However, most were believed to be the remains of the Rohingya Muslims who had fled sectarian strifes in Myanmar's Rakhine state and sailed on boats in the Andaman Sea in search of an asylum abroad.

Many had earlier disembarked in the southern coastal Thai province of Ranong.

According to the police, all the dead bodies found in the graveyard were the remains of Rohingya migrants, most of whom might probably have died of malaria or other illnesses while waiting in vain to be smuggled into Malaysia.

Human traffickers were believed to have brought the Rohingyas from Ranong province and been destined for Malaysia where they might have been employed as cheap labor.

In the border woods, makeshift shelter and tents were found near the graveyard and believed to have been used by the Rohingyas, some of whom might already have slipped into Malaysian territory in Perlis state from across Padang Besar.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/illegal-migrants-graveyard-discovered-on-thai-malaysian-border/