4 Burmese dead in trafficking horror
RANONG: Fifty-four Burmese, 17 men and 37 women, suffocated to death while being transported in the sealed container of a seafood delivery truck yesterday en route from Ranong to Phuket.
Col Kraithong Chanthongbai of Suksamran District Police today told the Gazette that police received a call from local people saying that a 10-wheeled truck had been left by the side of Petchkasem Rd in Village 3, Tambon Naka, Suksamran District, Ranong.
“Inside the container were 121 Burmese. We found 54 bodies: 17 men and 37 women. The other 67 were still alive,” Col Kraithong said.
Although the container on the truck has a refrigeration unit to preserve seafood, it was not switched on, he said. (Phuket Gazette)
RANONG: Fifty-four Burmese, 17 men and 37 women, suffocated to death while being transported in the sealed container of a seafood delivery truck yesterday en route from Ranong to Phuket.
Col Kraithong Chanthongbai of Suksamran District Police today told the Gazette that police received a call from local people saying that a 10-wheeled truck had been left by the side of Petchkasem Rd in Village 3, Tambon Naka, Suksamran District, Ranong.
“Inside the container were 121 Burmese. We found 54 bodies: 17 men and 37 women. The other 67 were still alive,” Col Kraithong said.
Although the container on the truck has a refrigeration unit to preserve seafood, it was not switched on, he said. (Phuket Gazette)
It was in HELL, another post, about some guy training to be an EMT in the Philippines, an area of the world not exactly reknowned for its emergency medical services, who was planning on using said skills to help the Burmese in their country. Personally, I found the idea of this guy who appeared to be heroic and dedicated quite impressive, but my experiences and training made me look at the whole thing in a more cynical light. Having been part of medical missions in the Philippines, where I've donated my time and money towards helping poor remotely located villagers, I had a fairly good understanding of the sacrifices involved, and the desperation that so sorely needed to be helped. But I also understood that despite a lifetime of medical training and experience, that sitting in a jungle location with no ancillary hospital services available, limited supplies, and limited tropical medicine experience made the practice of medicine, if you want to call it that, minimal, to say the least. I had found it both frustrating and rewarding.
I had no idea that people would want me to get involved here in Thailand. The Philippines have a way of ignoring things like medical licensure; they're desperate for any help that they can get, so they overlook the whole concept of credentials not being reciprocal from other countries. Not so in Thailand; to practice medicine here, one has to take the Thai medical boards. It's no easy task considering the fact that the test is only offered in the Thai language. That's why I was terribly surprised when a local organization, with ties to the Canadian embassy here, was interested in talking to me about providing medical care to the Burmese. I didn't think this was ever going to be an option, but I decided to further educate myself in this regard. There was no harm in talking.
It was an eye opening conversation, to say the least.
They asked me if I knew what was going on with the Burmese over the border. I demonstrated my unparalleled knowledge and understanding of the issues. I basically told them that I saw Rambo IV, and that I pretty much knew all that I needed to know. I thought it was funny; surprisingly, they saw the humor, and didn't get insulted by it. From that, I presumed, that what was depicted in the movie might not have been that far from the truth.
Up on the Thai Burmese border, in Thailand, is an area called Mesot. In that city is a rather large refugee medical and school camp, where Burmese by the hundreds congregate to get medical care and education. Various agencies help to provide services there, mostly with respect to building school houses for the children. As a lot of these children are orphans, they present special problems when dealing with their care. A few physicians, from various countries, visit from time to time to provide health care at the refugee camp. These physicians go there for a week or two, to a month or two, at a time. There are a few full time doctors that spend their time there; surprisingly, some are Thai. From what I could gather from the conversation, the local Thai physicians don't spend much time, if any, providing medical mission care to the Burmese.
What I found interesting, is that occasionally, teams would actually go across the Thai Burmese border, bringing medical supplies "on their backs" to various areas in Burma, mostly areas inhabited by the Karin peoples. There are some zones across the border, six if I remember correctly, where the Burmese military "ignore" foreign trespassers on their soil. Occasionally, teams of people, including a physician or two, will go across the border, provide some basic health and education care, and then return. Going deeper into Burma, or, going into areas outside of these six or so small zones, is a problem. Teams occasionally do it, but, it's not recommended. And there's a relatively simple reason.
The Burmese military are under "shoot to kill" orders.
In fact, it is not really safe to enter these six or so local zones, as, one never knows when these zones are not considered to be "safe". The Burmese military can change their minds at will; one day they may overlook a certain area, the next day, they may consider it to be off limits and act accordingly. From what I could gather, it was clear that one never knew if one's journey into the near reaches of Burma would be "safe", or frought with danger. Generally speaking, the Burmese escaped to Thailand for their care; the teams tended not to travel to Burma, and if they did, they didn't go very far, or, for very long. I was told that this year, six foreigners, as members of these teams, have been shot and killed so far. These were medical and religious missionaries. I guess Rambo wasn't too far off.
Well, as for me, I got the impression that things were organized, to some degree. The whole thing seemed admirable, but lacking. The major players in this sort of missionary work, such as large international groups and UNICEF, did go into Burma from time to time to provide some sort of services, but they tended to go deeper in country, and at the invitation and with the permission of, the Burmese military. Providing care to the Karin peoples near the Thai border didn't seem to be part of their purview. Basically, it was too dangerous.
As I have some experience in this medical missionary thing, they asked to stay in touch with me. I denied their request to spend a month or two on the Thai-Burmese border, as I didn't think the current girlfriend would appreciate it. When she heard the "shoot to kill" statement, I got fingernails in my thigh, and at that point, I firmly understood that my future providing some sort of help to these people was going to be restricted. I also thought the entire concept to be a bit futile, especially with regard to medical licensure, a fact which I was told was overlooked, when the Thai's felt like overlooking it. And the numbers of Burmese people involved, well, it all seemed as if it was an overwhelming issue which would never be resolved until there were major changes in Burma itself.
A truly sad and frustrating situation for all involved.
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