The bodies were uncovered at a remote jungle camp in Sadao district, in Songkhla province bordering Malaysia.
BANGKOK — Scores of dead bodies believed to belong to Rohingya Muslim refugees escaping Burma as well as Bangladeshi people was uncovered on Friday, May 1, in southern Thailand, adding to the grisly picture of refugees’ status in the area.
"There are 32 graves, four bodies have now been exhumed and are on their way... to hospital for an autopsy," Sathit Thamsuwan, a rescue worker who was at the scene soon after the site was found, told AFP, saying it was unclear how they had died.
"The bodies were all decayed," he said, adding a single emaciated man from Bangladesh survived and was being treated at a hospital in nearby Padang Besar.
The bodies were uncovered at a remote jungle camp in Sadao district, in Songkhla province bordering Malaysia.
They come as Thailand's junta says it is cracking down on the scourge of human trafficking.
The border area with Malaysia is notorious for its network of secret camps where smuggled migrants are held, usually against their will until relatives pay up hefty ransoms.
National police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung described the site as a virtual "prison camp" where migrants were held in makeshift bamboo cells.
"There are 32 places that look like graves and whether there is one body or several bodies in those graves, we will we have to wait and see," he said.
He added that authorities believe that the smugglers have abandoned the sick men when they moved Rohingya migrants across the border into Malaysia two days ago.
Described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, Rohingya Muslims are facing a catalogue of discrimination in their homeland.
They have been denied citizenship rights since an amendment to the citizenship laws in 1982 and are treated as illegal immigrants in their own home.
The Burmese government as well as the Buddhist majority refuse to recognize the term “Rohingya”, referring to them as “Bengalis”.
Rights groups have accused the Burmese security forces of killing, raping and arresting Rohingyas following the sectarian violence last year.
Fleeing state-sponsored persecution, an estimated 120,000 Burmese refugees fled to live in 10 camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border, according to The Border Consortium, which coordinates NGO activity in the camps.
Many fled persecution and ethnic wars as well as poverty and have lived in the camps with no legal means of making an income.
On its part, Thailand has not encouraged the immigration of Rohingya Muslims, considering them to be almost exclusively economic migrants.
In May 2014, Thailand's military overthrew the remnants of an elected government after months of sometimes violent street protests.
Its National Council for Peace and Order has rolled out a raft of tough measures it says are needed to restore order and has promised a return to democracy next year.
Local media said the camp and its lone survivor were stumbled upon by villagers looking for mushrooms.
The local hospital confirmed the Bangladeshi man had survived and was in a stable condition.
A senior official from Sadao said exhumations had now stopped pending the arrival of forensic teams.
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