PHUKET: A young boy who arrived in Thailand on a Rohingya boat on Christmas Day with 138 others is to have an operation this week to fix a genital hernia, Phuketwan has learned.
According to reports, the Rohingya, stateless and persecuted inside Burma, are also refused access to hospitals.
Thirteen women and children from the Christmas Day boat are now being accommodated in a family shelter in Khao Lak, north of Phuket. It's thought that the menfolk associated with the families are also being held somewhere in Phang Nga province.
Local Immigration officials decline to say what has happened to the menfolk or to the other Rohingya who arrived on the boat. It's thought that, with the exception of the families, the other men and boys have probably already been ''deported'' through the Thai-Burma port of Ranong.
As Burmese authorities do not accept back Rohingya who flee the country, ''deported'' usually means they have been put back on a boat at sea, and probably transferred into the arms of traffickers.
After extensive health checks, the women and children arrived at the Phang Nga family shelter on January 1 and later that day a person thought to be a trafficker came to visit, returning at dusk.
Staff at the shelter intervened to prevent the person driving off with the women and children.
It's not known how long the women and children will be detained at the shelter. The group joins 13 other Rohingya women and children, the remnants of more than 70 apprehended early last year. The others have all escaped with the help of traffickers.
Details have emerged about how a pickup loaded with Rohingya came to be in Sadao, close to Thailand's southern border with Malaysia, where it overturned, killing one man and seriously injuring others, on Thursday.
Survivors have said they were among a group of 196 Rohingya who came ashore in Ranong last Wednesday.
The boatpeople were all hidden in pickups under tarpaulins then driven south towards the border, according to survivors.
When paramedics reached the scene of Thursday's crash they found only eight injured and one dead man. At that stage the driver had vanished, along with the remaining healthy occupants and the pickup's numberplates.
One of the injured remains critical in intensive care while four are still in serious condition. The youngest is 15.
The Superintendent of Khlong Nae Police Station, Colonel Worachat Rosjan, confirmed the crash and said the injured had been recorded as ''Burmese Muslims.''
It is thought that the pickup was probably on its way to one of several secret camps set up by traffickers in the jungle to hold hundreds of Rohingya while their sale is negotiated to family and friends across the border in Malaysia.
Thousands of Rohingya are fleeing Burma at the instigation of Buddhist neighbors and officials who want Muslims out of the country.
According to reports, the Rohingya, stateless and persecuted inside Burma, are also refused access to hospitals.
Thirteen women and children from the Christmas Day boat are now being accommodated in a family shelter in Khao Lak, north of Phuket. It's thought that the menfolk associated with the families are also being held somewhere in Phang Nga province.
Local Immigration officials decline to say what has happened to the menfolk or to the other Rohingya who arrived on the boat. It's thought that, with the exception of the families, the other men and boys have probably already been ''deported'' through the Thai-Burma port of Ranong.
As Burmese authorities do not accept back Rohingya who flee the country, ''deported'' usually means they have been put back on a boat at sea, and probably transferred into the arms of traffickers.
After extensive health checks, the women and children arrived at the Phang Nga family shelter on January 1 and later that day a person thought to be a trafficker came to visit, returning at dusk.
Staff at the shelter intervened to prevent the person driving off with the women and children.
It's not known how long the women and children will be detained at the shelter. The group joins 13 other Rohingya women and children, the remnants of more than 70 apprehended early last year. The others have all escaped with the help of traffickers.
Details have emerged about how a pickup loaded with Rohingya came to be in Sadao, close to Thailand's southern border with Malaysia, where it overturned, killing one man and seriously injuring others, on Thursday.
Survivors have said they were among a group of 196 Rohingya who came ashore in Ranong last Wednesday.
The boatpeople were all hidden in pickups under tarpaulins then driven south towards the border, according to survivors.
When paramedics reached the scene of Thursday's crash they found only eight injured and one dead man. At that stage the driver had vanished, along with the remaining healthy occupants and the pickup's numberplates.
One of the injured remains critical in intensive care while four are still in serious condition. The youngest is 15.
The Superintendent of Khlong Nae Police Station, Colonel Worachat Rosjan, confirmed the crash and said the injured had been recorded as ''Burmese Muslims.''
It is thought that the pickup was probably on its way to one of several secret camps set up by traffickers in the jungle to hold hundreds of Rohingya while their sale is negotiated to family and friends across the border in Malaysia.
Thousands of Rohingya are fleeing Burma at the instigation of Buddhist neighbors and officials who want Muslims out of the country.
Why have you not printed my article. It is factually correct. Are you anti-Semitic?
Posted by Fiesty Farang on January 6, 2014 22:29
Editor Comment:
Your views have already been over-exposed, FF. They defy logic and close scrutiny.