Today, the Thai military picked up 16 Burmese refugees who have been left stranded on a desert island off the coast of Ranong province, southern Thailand, for 3 days and a couple of nights. The group came to the island from Myanmar by boat and had been advised to attend for an additional boat to take them across to the mainland. However, the boat they were promised by no means came.
Laem Som National Park officers this morning found sixteen Burmese refugees stranded on Koh Kam Nui, an uninhabited island in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Ranong province. The Thai army was referred to as in to provide help.
The refugees, 9 men and 7 girls, stated that they had travelled 60 – 70 kilometres throughout the sea from Kawthoung town at the southernmost point in Myanmar and crossed into Thailand’s territorial waters. The crossing from Ranong to Kawthoung is a popular visa-run for people living within the provinces of Phang Nga, Phuket and Krabi.
The boat which picked up the group from Myanmar dropped them off on the desert island and told them to wait for a long-tail boat with a Thai driver to take them across to the mainland. However, the boat did not arrive and the group had been left with no food or water for three days and a pair of nights.
The group said they planned to cross over to the mainland, travel by way of Thailand’s southern provinces and enter Malaysia the place they hoped to search out work. No strings attached had agreed to pay the equal of 30,000 baht every once they reached Malaysia.
Officials suspect no one dared choose up the refugees since three Thai males had been arrested for transporting 30 Burmese refugees by long-tail boat in the identical space last week. The males were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. However, they have been discovered not guilty of the costs.
The military provided food and water for the sixteen Burmese men and women and took them throughout to the mainland. The military didn’t say what would happen to the refugees now.
Despite ongoing violence in Myanmar, Burmese refugees who threat their lives to travel into Thailand or neighbouring nations are normally considered by Thai authorities as unlawful immigrants. Usually, Thai authorities send Burmese people who illegally crossed into Thailand back to Myanmar..