Mass migrant graveyard
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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.
