32 more Bangladeshis rescued in Thailand

Thirty-two more Bangladeshi migrants were found on Khao Kaew mountain in adjacent areas of Hat Yai and Rattaphum districts of Songkhla today, reports Bangkok Post.

Local police and officials spotted the migrants, all males, walking along the edge of a forest in tambon Tha Chamuang in Rattaphum.

All of them looked exhausted and hungry. They were taken to Ban Khlong School in the district before being sent to a temporary shelter at the Rattaphum district office, where another 117 illegal migrants have been given refuge.

Authorities have been combing large areas of southern Thailand in search of victims of human traffickers as outrage grows about the scale of the abuses committed.

The discovery of a mass grave in Songkhla a week ago has spurred officials into action to track down criminals who had been operating with impunity for years.

Initial questioning found that the men found on Saturday had travelled from Bangladesh and were likely to be part of the same group found earlier this week. They had been abandoned by traffickers while en route to Malaysia, authorities said.

Many of those involved in criminal smuggling gangs are believed to have fled in an attempt to avoid capture during the current crackdown, leaving their victims to fend for themselves.