Myanmar and Rohingya migrants found abandoned in Thai forest
More than 50 people, identified as Myanmar and Rohingya nationals, were discovered hiding in a forest near a village in Rim Si Muang subdistrict, Khao Kho district. They had been abandoned after being smuggled into the country and left without assistance.
The discovery emerged after a Facebook post by Phaitoon Khotsombat, a district official, shared a video of the group with the caption expressing disbelief at witnessing such a situation in reality. The post described how, around 9pm on February 10, two exhausted foreign men approached locals asking for food.
Before leaving, they indicated there were many others equally hungry.
Phaitoon and his team searched and found the group in a nearby community forest. Unable to communicate with them, they enlisted a Burmese worker from the area to assist as a translator.
The group revealed they had entered Thailand via the Mae Sot district in Tak province through natural routes. They were transported by truck to Nakhon Sawan province and later told they would be taken to Pattaya, Chon Buri province for work.
However, they were abandoned in Khao Kho with assurances another vehicle would pick them up, which never happened.
The group consisted of 57 people, including 17 men, five women, and 35 minors under 18 years old. Local police in Khao Kho were notified for further investigation.
Later, at 10.40am yesterday, February 11, officers from Tha Phon Police Station in Phetchabun province were informed by a local about three men resembling foreigners walking along a public road in the Nang Ruea subdistrict. The police apprehended them as they could not speak Thai and brought them to the station, reported KhaoSod.
Assistance from a translator, Tun Tun, a Myanmar national, confirmed they had illegally entered through Mae Sot and were part of a group of about 40 people initially picked up by a truck.
They were dropped off in Khao Kho and told another truck would arrive by 6pm on February 10, which did not happen, leading to their dispersal and subsequent capture by police. The group is now facing legal proceedings.
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