Fifty-four illegal migrants from Burma, most of them women, suffocated in the back of an unventilated truck in southern Thailand while being smuggled to the resort island of Phuket, police said yesterday.The victims, along with 67 survivors, had entered Thailand to seek jobs.
They had been forced to ride standing in the 2.2 meters by 6 meters container area of the locked and sweltering truck, normally used to carry seafood.
They were on the road in Ranong province near Burma for about two hours late on Wednesday when they started collapsing, survivors said. Temperatures in the province reached 34 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
Saw Win, a 30-year-old survivor, said about 30 minutes into the trip the occupants pounded from the inside of the truck, screamed for air and used a mobile phone to call the driver, who briefly turned on air-conditioning.
It later shut down, and they called the driver again 30 minutes later but his phone was off.
They continued pounding and screaming until he stopped the truck about an hour later, unlocked the door and ran off when he saw the state of the victims.
A translator for police said the air- conditioning had broken down while the truck was waiting for a police checkpoint to close for the night.
The translator said the driver ran away, leaving the door locked.
It was only when nearby villagers heard screams and banging from the vehicle that they came to investigate and opened the doors, he said.
The survivors said they arrived in Ranong, 460 kilometers south of Bangkok, by fishing boat on Wednesday.
They said they each paid 10,000 baht (HK$2,464) to be smuggled into Thailand.
Police were searching for the truck's driver and members of the smuggling gang they believed arranged the trip.
The truck's owner, who was detained for questioning, claimed he was unaware the vehicle was being used to transport migrants from Burma. He was not arrested.
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