Malaysia exhumes suspected migrant remains from graves
26/5/2015
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21 minutes ago
- From the section Asia
The pictures show camps by the Malaysia-Thailand border which were abandoned by people-traffickers
Malaysia has begun exhuming bodies suspected to be migrants buried in mass grave sites found by the Thai border.
Authorities believe migrants were held for ransom in jungle camps, and those who died were buried in 139 graves.
Thousands of migrants have left Myanmar and Bangladesh in recent weeks on boats and overland through Thailand and Malaysia. Some have ended up in the hands of human traffickers.
Thailand has meanwhile offered a “floating naval base” to help migrants.
Officials believe the camps were only abandoned recently, following a crackdown by Thailand on human traffickers after similar mass graves were found in its southern Songkhla province.
Some migrants were apparently held at the camps in “human cages” made of wood and barbed wire.
Malaysia’s national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said there were signs that torture had been used, but he did not elaborate. “We were shocked by the cruelty,” said Mr Khalid.
Referring to the “cages”, he told reporters: “We think the migrants were imprisoned in these wooden pens…They were not allowed to move freely and traffickers kept watch at sentry posts.”
The camps were found near the site of the mass graves
Earlier this month, Thailand began cracking down on the routes used by traffickers to move Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar through its territory.
The migrants, who want to reach Malaysia, were instead being sent by sea, but thousands were left drifting as no country wanted to take them in.
The UN’s refugee agency says about 3,000 people have now reached land, but estimates another 2,600 may still be out at sea.
Malaysia and Indonesia this week agreed to stop rejecting boats and to provide temporary shelter to the migrants.
But while Thailand said it would stop towing away boats from its territory, it said would not take in migrants.
On Monday, facing international pressure to do more, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the country would establish a “floating naval base” to help migrants.
A navy ship with surveillance aircraft will give supplies and medical treatment to migrants stranded in the Andaman Sea.
But only people with serious medical needs will be taken to land, where they will be considered illegal arrivals.
“If anyone is injured or sick, they can be treated at hospitals in Thailand but will face illegal entry charges – it is up to them to decide,” he said.
Analysis: Jonathan Head, BBC News
This offer seems more attuned to Thailand’s attempt to keep the boats at arms’ length. It is a way of avoiding having to bring these people to land.
The Thai authorities say anyone who needs land-based medical treatment will be charged with illegal entry. They plan to process the other migrants on the troop carrier and then send them on to Malaysia and Indonesia.
And they also have to find the migrants’ boats. Thailand has announced it will use two navy surveillance aircraft, helicopters, and that it will now allow US navy aircraft to operate from bases in Thailand, after refusing a US request last week, but only if they do so under Thai military command.
Asia’s migrant crisis
- Rohingya Muslims mainly live in Myanmar, where they have faced decades of persecution.
- Rights groups say migrants feel they have “no choice” but to leave, paying people smugglers to help them.
- The UN estimates more than 120,000 Rohingyas have fled in the past three years.
- Traffickers usually take the migrants by sea to Thailand then overland to Malaysia.
- But Thailand recently began cracking down on the migrant routes, meaning traffickers are using sea routes instead often abandoning the boats once at sea.
Why are so many Rohingya stranded at sea?
The perilous journey of a migrant boat that made it
The Indonesian villagers saving migrants
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32879985