Ranong:54 Burmese suffocate to death

[Wisarut]

54 Burmese immigrant workers Dead by Suffocation in A COntainer Box
Manager Dailoy 10 April 2008

10 Wheel Lorry with license plate of 70-0619 Ranong carrying 119 illegal Burmese immigrant workers - 54 dead (17 males and 37 females) by suffocation while carrying Burmese workers from Kaw Thaung to Phuket in refrigerated container box. The otehr 21 are nearly dead ... have to be hospitalized at Suksamran Hospital in Suk Samran district of Ranong. The other 44 were puyt into police custody at Suksamran police station

The driver of 10 wheel lorry is runnign away ... The lorry is belonged to Rungrueangsab Co.Ltd.

The logn journey from Kaw Thaung to Ranong is the main cause of fatal suffocation .. The driver had to top the truck at Wat uan Sai Ngam temple ...

After pickign up those dead, Police is askign Mytanma Embassy to call the realtives of thsoe dead illegal immigrants to pick up either the bodies or theri ashes ...






http://www.manager.co.th/Home/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9510000042502

[GWR]

Another reporter who knows zilch about workaday subjects. The driver didn't switch on the refrigeration unit. Well, he probably didn't want them to die of hypothermia, but there is no real need to ventilate a reefer unit - and probably no ventilation system anyway. And at the end it says the unit failed, not long after it says he failed to switch it on:

54 Myanmar migrant workers suffocate in seafood container truck


http://enews.mcot.net/upfile/1207803185.jpg
[Photo: MCOT]

RANONG, April 10 (TNA) - Police were searching for the truck's driver and members of the human trafficking smuggling gang after fifty-four Myanmar migrant workers of more than 100 workers suffocated in the back of a seafood truck in this southern province.

Ranong police said the truck driver, realising that some of the migrants had died, fled the scene after parking the vehicle on a road side on Petchkasem Road in Ranong's Suksamran district and letting the workers out of the truck.

A total of 121 people had been crammed inside a container only six metres long and 2.2 metres wide.

Another 67 Myanmar citizens in the same vehicle were rescued with 21 being treated in hospital with dehydration and a lack of oxygen.

Of the dead, 37 were women and 17 were men.

Police were searching for the truck's driver and members of the smuggling gang they believed to have arranged the trip.

The truck registration plate and sticker "Rung Ruerngsab" posted at the truck expected to lead to find the driver and the truck owner, according to the police.

The driver apparently failed to turn on the air conditioning in the container, which was normally was used to transport frozen seafood.

The initial investigation showed that the workers has crossed into Ranong province from Myanmar on Wednesday night and were then packed into the small container truck to be shipped to Phuket and Phang-nga.

They were kept inside the sealed truck for hours without air because the air-conditioning system failed. (TNA)-E003
http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=3709

[GWR]

Drive of death
Published on April 11, 2008
Dreams of a new life snuffed out in lorry driven by ruthless human trafficker

Desperate for a better future, 120 Burmese illegal workers crammed into a sealed container and headed for Phuket and jobs.

However, late on Wednesday only 66 emerged alive, many of them close to death.

The remainder had died of heat and suffocation, 37 of whom were women and girls. Their driver, scared of being arrested, had refused to turn on the air-conditioning.

"I thought everyone was going to die," says Saw Win, a 30-year-old survivor. "If the truck had gone on, I would have died for sure."

Getting cooked

The survivors say the air-coniditioning was shut off an hour into their journey from Ranong.

Little did they know that their sweltering transport would soon become a coffin for many.

The airtight refrigerated container measures just six by two metres.

With more than 120 inside, it's standing room only.

"We called the driver on his mobile. We couldn't breathe. He told us to shut up and stop causing problems," says survivor Theeda Tui.

The 21-year-old woman says the passengers were terrified and started to scream and batter on the padlocked door.

"The last thing I remember is suffocating," says Theeda, an ethnic Mon.

"When I woke up I was in hospital."

Win says they continued pounding and screaming for an hour before the driver stopped and unlocked the container.

He fled when he saw the bodies piled inside.

Barely conscious survivors flagged down a passer-by who alerted Suk Samrarn police. Lieutenant Supachai Srisom-poch says they responded to the "suspicious" vehicle about 10.30pm, finding the dead scattered about.

"Others were clearly close to death."

Recovering for deportation

Twenty-one of the survivors were rushed to hospital, and 10 are still being treated.

"They are out of danger but they'll suffer post-traumatic stress," Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsap says.

Suk Samraran superintendent Colonel Kraithong Janthong says victims paid as much as Bt10,000 to a smuggling ring.

They were headed to jobs in Phang Nga, Phuket and Krabi in construction or sweatshops for measly salaries.

The dead await to be collected by relatives. The survivors will be deported.

Lorry owner Damrong Pussadee, a used-car salesman from Ranong, identified the driver as Suchon Boongplong. He denies any knowledge of the vehicle being used for human trafficking.

However, a senior policeman says Damrong is a middleman and received Bt5,000 a head. The manhunt for Suchon intensified today.

A million registered Burmese work in Thailand and another million illegally. They are unprotected by the law and ruthlessly exploited.

Daily Xpress, Agencies

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/04/11/headlines/headlines_30070609.php