Fourteen Burma nationals were injured in an accident in Thailand’s Sangkhla Buri District, located in Kanchanaburi Province, on April 1. Thai media reported that the accident occurred on Road 323 after midnight, prompting a response from police and first responders.

Upon arrival at the scene, officials found a blue Isuzu six-wheeled vehicle overturned at a bend in the road, approximately one kilometer from a police checkpoint. Fourteen individuals were provided first aid before being transported to Sangkhla Buri Hospital. The driver had fled the scene.

An investigation revealed that the vehicle was carrying a total of 29 undocumented Burma nationals, including 21 men, seven women, and a child. They had reportedly contacted a Burmese broker to find job in Thailand, crossing the border by foot from Payathonzu, in Karen State. The vehicle had been sent to pick them up at the border before the accident occurred.

Nine of the injured have been discharged from the hospital, while the remaining five with severe injuries have been transferred to Phahun Phong Phayusena Hospital. Police are still searching for the driver. The detained Burma nationals are being held at Sangkhla Buri police station.

On March 30, a total of 119 Burma nationals were apprehended at five separate locations in Thailand, resulting in the arrest of three drivers. However, two of the three drivers managed to evade police. In Den Chai District of Phrae Province, located in northern Thailand, 47 Burma nationals were reportedly arrested at the Hue Lai checkpoint. 

Among those detained were 33 men and 14 women aged between 18 and 25, who had paid a broker fee of 10,000-15,000 Thai baht ($272-409 USD) to be taken by bus from Tachileik, Burma across the border to Mae Sai, Thailand and onwards to Bangkok for work.