sometimes we in the "relatively" well of west, don't realise how bad things r for ppl who want to escape to a better life !!  or the risks they will take to try and acheive this !! 

Burma migrants suffocate in lorry

Survivors managed to alert the authorities to their police Fifty-four Burmese migrants have been found dead after suffocating in a lorry smuggling them into southern Thailand. More than 100 people were packed into a container measuring 6m by 2m. Many of the survivors are seriously ill from dehydration and lack of oxygen. The driver opened the doors of the vehicle after the migrants banged on the walls - but he fled on foot when he saw what had happened. Thousands of Burmese risk the trip to Thailand in the hope of better wages. Police said the Burmese had crossed by boat to the Thai town of Ranong from Burma's southern tip at Victoria Point - a route often used by illegal migrants. They had then been packed into an airtight container on a lorry for the journey to the resort island of Phuket. Police detention Local police chief Col Kraithong Chanthongbai said the ventilation in the container had failed. "The [survivors] said they tried to bang on the walls of the container to tell the driver they were dying, but he told them to shut up as police would hear them when they crossed through checkpoints inside Thailand," he told the French news agency AFP. Thailand: 141,000 refugees in camps, about 500,000 registered migrants, up to 1,350,000 unregistered Bangladesh: 27,000 refugees in camps, 200,000 unregistered Malaysia: 30,000 refugees, several thousand unregistered India and China: Tens of thousands of unregistered workers in border states of Mizoram and Yunnan respectively Sources: UNHCR, NGOs One Burmese migrant's story Police said at least 47 migrants survived and 54 died - 37 women and 17 men. The survivors who did not need hospital treatment were detained by the Thai authorities. Saw Win, a 30-year-old survivor, told the Associated Press from police custody how he believed everyone would perish in the lorry. "I thought everyone was going to die. I thought I was going to die. If the truck had driven for 30 minutes more, I would have died for sure," he said. It is thought the migrants paid between 5,000 baht ($155; £75) and 10,000 baht for their passage into Thailand. There are thought to be up to two million Burmese workers in Thailand, more than half of whom are in the country illegally. They fill the low-paid, often dangerous jobs in sectors including textiles, construction and fisheries that Thai workers do not want. But these jobs offer the migrants salaries that far exceed what they could earn in military-ruled Burma, one of South East Asia's most impoverished nations.

shocking....and yet the international community stands basically mute...

Can't even imagine how bad it is in Burma if these people are wanting to come to Thailand and get treated worse than a lame, diseased soi dog...

"shocking....and yet the international community stands basically mute..."

and the thai authorities do nothing. absolutely nothing.

except arrest the burmese.

and few thais care.

I'm speechless!

Many Thai businesses employ illegal Burmese workers at a very low wage, about half of what Thai would get paid. And the Thai police know what going on, they get money for turning a blind eye to it. Hopeless.

with huge economic differences, nothing can end horrors like this completely.

but if the thai gov't did something that'd be a start. i'd imagine stiff sentences for those employing illegals rather than arresting the illegal workers would be a start. only way to attack the problem really is to attack the demand, not the supply. supply happens when demand exists.

perhaps the smugglers could face even more severe penalties, but would this really act as a deterrent or just make them MORE likely to do things like this--more afraid of getting caught than of killing 100 innocent people?

Read this on excite news today. Sad to hear what happened. Happens in the U.S. all the time also.

But I do agree with what zeusbheld said also

They tried that with "farang teachers"... Did nothing but increase the "under the table donations" from all the schools. The problem was with the farang teachers, not with the thai school owners. The problem is never with the thais... It's always with the "farang" whether it be caucasian or asian... I just don't see Thailand on the whole giving a hill of antshit about the subject.

The authorities won't do anything because there are people sitting in high levels of government who are profiting from this trade.

Add to this the undercurrent of hatred or bitterness for Burmese among many Thais, and you have an apathetic public not demanding anyone do anything about it.

Exactly as I said.

One of the reasons Blair and Bush gave for going into Iraq was becuase of repression against the people by Saddam.

I don't see them going into Burma, or doing anything at all for that matter.

Strange, that...

There isn't much the Western powers actually can do that they haven't already done short of military intervention.

The question is: what will the Thais do?

Myanmar has plenty of Oil PeterH.

It doesn't have much oil at all. What it has a lot of is natural gas.