54 Burmese job seekers suffocate in Ranong

**Northern Scum** · 11-04-2008, 08:25 PM

So sad

**John** · 11-04-2008, 09:04 PM

Have heard so many stories with illegal workers. But cannot recall one where they even mentioned the people employing them here...

**EmperorTud** · 11-04-2008, 10:54 PM

Why isn't the truck owner facing a stiffer charge? 54 people have died FFS.

To then jail the survivors who cannot pay a measly fine is typical Thailand unfortunately. You'd hope they would show compassion to people that survived a near death incident and that would be sufficient to discourage them from reoffending but apparently not.

This country never ceases to disgust me.

**Thetyim** · 11-04-2008, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by EmperorTud

Why isn't the truck owner facing a stiffer charge?

I presume he is admitting to being the truck owner but denying that he was aware of what the truck was being used for.

**EmperorTud** · 11-04-2008, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Originally Posted by EmperorTud

Why isn't the truck owner facing a stiffer charge?

I presume he is admitting to being the truck owner but denying that he was aware of what the truck was being used for.

If that was the case why did they charge him with "conspiring to traffic the migrants"?

**Pansodan** · 11-04-2008, 11:04 PM

John- I follow this situation for years intensively and do not know an answer how to react, still. If one makes REAL trouble it could mean that noone from that country is employed anymore, you know the historic ressentiments that exist towards Burmese already.... And you know what- most people crossing that particular border point (situation is sometimes different in some other areas) know that their journey and stay in Thailand, especially the border crossing, is not without danger, there is no complete naivety.

So they are aware of serious risks. The best answer to all this is to work on the causes- that is the devastating economic situation in Myanmar.

**Smeg** · 11-04-2008, 11:08 PM

What an absolutely terrifying horrible way that must be to die, forced to stand in a tiny space amongst 120 other screaming people locked in a roasting mobile coffin for 90 minutes.

I hope the scum that make money from this kind of thing burn in hell for eternity.

**Smeg** · 11-04-2008, 11:16 PM

On a very remotely related note, I made the mistake of catching the free bus from the BTS to the motorshow last weekend.

I got on the small pink bus and noticed that the aircon wasnt working. Then another 40 or so people crammed on and it was a sardine can. Then we hit traffic, and didn't move for 20 minutes. Nearly passing out from the heat, I very difficultly squeezed my way to the door and pressed the button above it showing an alarm signal. It sounded but even though the bus wasn't moving and was adjacent to the pavement, the door didn't open. I pressed it again, for longer. Again, nothing.

A thai men next to me told me to stop it and said the bus driver would only open the doors upon arrival at BITEC to stop people using it for free for journeys in between. I waited for another couple of minutes, as long as I could stand, then I rang the bell continuously. Several passengers shouted to the driver to open the door. He ignored them. I shouted at him to open the doors and called him a kwai. About a minute later, we still hadn't moved, and the doors eventually opened. I fell out of them, semi-concious from heat. Many others got off as well.

A ridiculous state of affairs

**Pansodan** · 11-04-2008, 11:33 PM

Originally Posted by Smeg

I hope the scum that make money from this kind of thing burn in hell for eternity.

Won't say no names but it takes just 15 minutes to investigate to see who is really earning money from that.

**EmperorTud** · 11-04-2008, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by Smeg

On a very remotely related note, I made the mistake of catching the free bus from the BTS to the motorshow last weekend.

I got on the small pink bus and noticed that the aircon wasnt working. Then another 40 or so people crammed on and it was a sardine can. Then we hit traffic, and didn't move for 20 minutes. Nearly passing out from the heat, I very difficultly squeezed my way to the door and pressed the button above it showing an alarm signal. It sounded but even though the bus wasn't moving and was adjacent to the pavement, the door didn't open. I pressed it again, for longer. Again, nothing.

A thai men next to me told me to stop it and said the bus driver would only open the doors upon arrival at BITEC to stop people using it for free for journeys in between. I waited for another couple of minutes, as long as I could stand, then I rang the bell continuously. Several passengers shouted to the driver to open the door. He ignored them. I shouted at him to open the doors and called him a kwai. About a minute later, we still hadn't moved, and the doors eventually opened. I fell out of them, semi-concious from heat. Many others got off as well.

A ridiculous state of affairs

I drove up there one afternoon this year about 2pm and couldn't get parked.

I found it a tad ironic that there wasn't anywhere near sufficient parking for a Motor Show in Bangkok on a weekday.

**Happyman** · 11-04-2008, 11:38 PM

Horrible story

Give it a few days though and it will probably appear that the truck owners sisters brothers wifes brother in laws uncle is Pol Capt "Somchai" and the driver was using the truck without permission .

**Smeg** · 11-04-2008, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by EmperorTud

I drove up there one afternoon this year about 2pm and couldn't get parked.

I found it a tad ironic that there wasn't anywhere near sufficient parking for a Motor Show in Bangkok on a weekday.

Kind of suggests that they prefer people who don't already have a car, which kind of makes sense in a weird simplistic thai way......

**Thetyim** · 11-04-2008, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by EmperorTud

If that was the case why did they charge him with "conspiring to traffic the migrants"?

I don't know.
Possibly to encourage him to pay the fine to have the charges dropped.

**Hootad Binky** · 12-04-2008, 12:47 AM

Originally Posted by blackgang

were the people legal migrants or were they illegal aliens coming into Thailand to work illegally?

The "don't do the crime if you can't do the time" argument is only as good as the respect for human rights and law in a given country, and Thailand is pretty miserable on that score. "500,000" baht per trip? You bet the police and immigration are definately getting as piece of that, perpetuiating it, profiting from it, putting the survivors in jail because YOU MUST RESPECT THE JUST LAWS OF THAILAND

**Pansodan** · 12-04-2008, 01:08 AM

That's the point. Prices for the transfer have risen during the last years...

The more desperate those people are, the more Burmese will pay.
Add the more "law and order" you claim, the more you can earn and justify your actions.

**Jet Gorgon** · 12-04-2008, 05:21 AM

^^ I think it's "don't do the crime if you can't do the time".

**Hootad Binky** · 12-04-2008, 05:49 AM

^ Cheers!

**Dougal** · 12-04-2008, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by Whiteshiva

Originally Posted by Mid

"We know which human-trafficking gang is behind this incident and we will round up their network," said Ranong Police Chief Major General Apirak Hongthong.

Sounds to me he knows quite a bit about human trafficking gangs - I wonder why he never took action before now.....

This being Thailand, and and especially considered the fact that the victims were 'just' Burmese, I am sure the people responsible for this tragedy will be fined several thousand baht, and told to behave in the future.

There are incidents like these, and the usual lack of effort from the authorities in bringing the perpetrators to justice (meaning real justice) that makes me wonder if Thailand really is where I want my kids to grow up.

And of course this sort of thing never happens in Europe.

The British trial is over, the Dutch trial has just started and already it is clear that the "Dover-case" is not only about the death of 58 migrants in a truck of a human trafficker. Journalists and defence lawyers have started to ask questions such as: why did the Dutch police declare that P & O Stenaline informed them about suspicions regarding the lorry which, the company asserts, it did not. And why did the British police claim that the inspection of the truck was a routine check, if it only took place shortly before the truck was about to leave the customs area. It remains to be seen during the course of the Dutch trial how much more evidence will be presented to suggest an involvement of Dutch and British police forces, possibly with the support of Europol.

Background

On 18 June 2000, 58 migrants from China died in a container on a journey on a P&O ferry from Zeebrugge to Dover (see Statewatch vol 10, no's 3/4 and no 6). As it later emerged, the migrant group had earlier been held in Belgium, and were told by the police to leave the Schengen area. Asked whether the Belgian authorities would have accepted the migrants entering the UK, the latter simply replied, "that counts as leaving the Schengen space" - although the UK has joined Schengen, it opted out of measures on immigration and border controls. On 22 June, Perry W., the Dutch truck driver, was charged with 58 counts of manslaughter and five of conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants into Britain. Ying G., a Mandarin interpreter, was charged with conspiring to facilitate the entry of illegal immigrants. The court case took place at the Maidstone crown court in the UK between 26 February and 4 April, when the jury found the truck driver and the interpreter guilty. Perry W.was sentenced by Judge Alan Moses to 14 years imprisonment and Ying G. to six years.

Parallel to the UK trial, 8 people have been charged with trafficking related offences in the Netherlands. But there, the prosecutions are surrounded by more controversy. On 14 December, the Dutch court in Rotterdam granted a request by the prosecutors for the investigation period to be extended by three months. On 5 March, the court case was postponed again because the defence lawyers received the relevant files only one and a half weeks before the initial starting date and wanted to investigate the possibility that the police had knowledge of the smuggling and were conducting a "controlled delivery". Nine people are on trial in the Dutch courts, eight of whom are charged with accessory to manslaughter, human trafficking and membership of a criminal organisation, the other for forgery. The court case began in Rotterdam on 19 of April 2001, with defence lawyers, Doedens and Boone, suggesting that the trafficking operation had been part of a controlled delivery. Back in November 2000, questions about this possibility were raised in the Dutch parliament. This came after journalists, on the basis of police surveillance reports, had reported that the police stopped their observation of the suspected traffickers on 16 June 2000, two days before the fatal journey .

Statewatch News online: Questions asked about deaths of 58 Chinese migrants Full link here.

**Mid** · 12-04-2008, 03:32 PM

^

There is the old boggie

,

Happens elsewhere so it's OK in Thailand ......................

**Mid** · 12-04-2008, 05:05 PM

A group of Myanmarese illegal migrant workers, rescued from a cramped container, sit in a prison cell at a police station in Sooksamran district, Ranong province, south of Bangkok April 10, 2008. Fifty-four illegal Myanmar migrants, most of them women, suffocated as they were smuggled into Thailand in a cramped seafood container, police said on Thursday. Another 67 were rescued from the 20-ft container truck, with over 20 being treated in hospital, said a police officer in the western coastal Thai province of Ranong.

Reuters

.

**Dougal** · 13-04-2008, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by Mid

^

There is the old boggie

,

Happens elsewhere so it's OK in Thailand ......................

Don't be absurd. This is a crime wherever it occurs. But to suggest as WS did that this type of human tragedy is somehow confined to third world countries and thus we Europeans can think ourselves smug and superior is merely to make the same sort of statement that Smeg so frequently trots out.

The unpleasant fact is that in this country as in yours and mine there are scum only too willing to turn desperation to their own profit, with little thought for the safety of the human beings that they profit from. And for their own benefit the authorities are often willing to turn a blind eye provided it does not reflect back on them.

In Europe and the West we supposedly have honest politicians, a free press and an impartial police and judicial system. But it seems to me that the only difference between Western Nations and the third world is the former has a had a couple of hundred years to perfect it's hypocrisy.

**Mid** · 13-04-2008, 12:19 PM

^

thanxs , it's now obvious that it wasn't your intent , though I've come across plenty who do subscribe to the theory ...................

**Mid** · 13-04-2008, 01:10 PM

Burmese official goes to Rayong to meet the survivors
Truck driver facing charges on the run
Sunday April 13, 2008
By Post reporters

Burmese minister-counsellor Myint Soe travelled to Ranong yesterday to inquire into the deaths of illegal Burmese workers in the southern province on Thursday.

He met provincial governor Kanchanapa Kiman, who expressed her condolences for the loss of 54 job seekers who suffocated in a cold storage container on a truck. They were among 121 illegal immigrants heading to Phuket.

Mrs Kanchanapa told the diplomat that all the injured immigrants would receive free medical treatment. Thai and Burmese volunteers would help the victims get over their shock.

Truck driver Suchon Bunplong was still on the run, while truck owner Damrong Phussadee, arrested on Thursday, would face strong charges, she said.

Mr Myint Soe said the Burmese government was upset about the tragedy and ordered him to report on the situation.

He thanked the Thai government for its help and asked authorities not to press charges against the survivors.

Later in the day, Mr Myint Soe visited Taw Hla, 32, one of the survivors, at a hospital, and 46 others at a prison.

Provincial police chief Pol Maj-Gen Apirak Hongthong said Mr Suchon would be the key to identifying those behind the human trafficking.

A Burmese job broker, identified only as Kyaw, was arrested yesterday, he said, but did not elaborate.

First Army chief Lt-Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said the army would not tolerate military officers getting involved in the trade. Some believe authorities masterminded the smuggling of 121 illegal Burmese migrants.

He said the issue of illegal migration was a top agenda item for the army. The Internal Security Operations Command, the National Security Council and other agencies would meet to work out solutions.

Burma was not willing to welcome back people arrested for illegal entry in Thailand. High-level talks were needed.

Region 8 Police Bureau chief Thani Tawitsri said the deaths of 54 Burmese job seekers could not be described as a human trade case. Police could only press charges of bringing alien labourers into the kingdom, giving them shelter or assistance and negligence causing death.

He said police could build cases against the truck driver, the truck owner and the 67 Burmese survivors.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is investigating whether there is any link between the tragedy and a major trafficking network.

To help the DSI, Pol Lt-Gen Thani said police are compiling a list of Thai job brokers and tracking their financial transactions. A source close to a security intelligence agency in the South said Burmese workers are common in the region, where labour is scarce.

''Burmese and Karen immigrants are working in factories, rubber plantations, construction sites and the fishery business. Most labourers in agriculture, including rubber tapping, are Burmese of Mon origin,'' he said.
Job brokers charged illegal Burmese workers 8,000-12,000 baht per head, depending on the distance travelled from their hometowns. The broker also paid government officers 10-20 baht per head per day to turn a blind eye.

bangkokpost.com

**dirtydog** · 14-04-2008, 05:39 AM

Owner of Burmese ‘death truck’ in custody

RANONG: The owner of the truck in which 54 Burmese, including an eight-year-old girl, died on Wednesday from suffocation while being smuggled from Ranong to Phuket presented himself today to police for questioning, Col Kraithong Chanthongbai, Superintendent of Suksamran District Police, told the Gazette.

The truck owner, who has been named as Damrong Phussadee, of Rungruengsup Limited Partnership, is now in police custody, Col Kraithong confirmed.

However, he added that police are are still searching for the driver, who has been named as Suchon Bunplong.

Col Kraithong said that the incident, which has sparked international furore over Thailand’s treatment of illegal immigrants, provided a good opportunity to expose human-trafficking rings.

“It’s a good chance to start making progress into finding out who is behind this, but I think it will take a long time to close the case,” he said, alluding to the high level of development of the system for smuggling migrant laborers into Thailand from Burma.

Col Kraithong added that the Burmese who survived the ordeal were presented to the court to face charges of entering the country illegally. “The court has yet to hand down its decision in this case,” he said.

“They said they wanted to go to Phuket. I think they wanted to work in the construction industry or as maids.

“One of the dead was an eight-year-old girl. She and the others will be buried in Ranong Cemetery,” he said.

Phuket Gazette

**Mid** · 15-04-2008, 01:34 PM

DSI to seize assets of Myanmar human traffickers

BANGKOK, April 14 (TNA) - The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will cooperate with Thailand's police in adopting harsh punishment as well as seizing the assets of a gang accused of involvement in smuggling Myanmar workers to Thailand last week, causing 54 of them to die in a suffocation tragedy, a senior DSI officer said Monday.

Pol. Col. Suchart Wongananchai, commander of the DSI's foreign affairs and international crime office, said after visiting the southern coastal province of Ranong on the Myanmar border to follow-up developments in relation to the 54 Myanmar workers who died of suffocation in a seafood container truck last Thursday that Thailand's response to the incident was being closely watched by international human rights organisations.

The workers secretly entered Ranong province and were travelling to Phuket province, locked in the storage compartment of a refrigerated seafood transfer vehicle. A Thai businessman was apprehended Friday in Ranong, but the truck's driver was still at large.

As anti-human trafficking laws are not yet enforced in Thailand, Pol. Col. Suchart said the DSI had proposed that assets of those involved in this case should be confiscated.

He said a detailed investigation was conducted after the incident and it was found that an illegal smuggling gang would "earn not less than Bt100,000 per trip".

Smuggling of foreign labour into the country should be considered as an economic crime and the freezing of assets should be imposed on the network, Pol. Col. Suchart said.

He said 50 survivors from the tragedy would be asked to become witnesses in the criminal case and "not accused persons". Thailand's Ministry of Justice would be responsible for their expenses while staying in Thailand.

The DSI is now compiling information on gangs which smuggle Myanmar workers into Thailand via border districts in Kanchanaburi and Tak provinces, he said. The illegal workers are usually sent to work in the fisheries in Samut Songkhram province, near Bangkok. (TNA)-E111

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