More bodies there
Villagers in the southern Thai district of Sadao claim there are other camps of human trafficking victims in the jungle that might have more bodies other than the 26 uncovered on Friday and Saturday.
''There could be more than 50 graves at the second camp and there are other camps with smaller numbers of buried bodies scattered near the border,'' reports news portal Phuketwan of Thailand quoting a reliable source.
The victims are suspected to have been persecuted Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and poor Bangladeshis who were lured of lucrative jobs in Malaysia and held captives in the mountainous Thai jungle camps for ransom.
Those who can pay ransom are pushed to Malaysia, while others are abused, sold to the fishing industry or forced to be slaves in the jungle camps.
Anuzar, one of the two survivors rescued from the camp on Friday, said there could be at least 10 Bangladeshis among the 26 bodies exhumed.
"Eight brokers controlled the camp," Anuzar said. "I knew three well -- Ahmed Ali, Anwar and Sorim-Ida. Some are Rohingyas and some are Malaysians."
Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem said they had no information on the identities of the bodies exhumed from graves in Sadao. They were trying to have access to the survivor, identified by police as a Bangladeshi, she added.
She further said 1,200 Bangladeshis had been rescued by the Thai authorities in last one and a half years and some 850 were repatriated.
Pol Gen Jaramporn Suramanee, a forensic science adviser to the Royal Thai Police, has meanwhile said one of the 26 bodies recovered had been identified as a woman, according to the Bangkok Post.
Several of the bodies showed signs of decay indicating they had been dead for at least one month, Suramanee said. But one of the victims, whose body had not been buried, had died a few days ago, he added.
Suramanee further said forensic experts had collected DNA samples from the bodies but were unable to confirm their identities immediately.
The bodies would be buried at Ban Phru in Songkhla's Hat Yai district once autopsy and DNA tests were done, he added.
Police colonel Triwit Sriprapa, deputy commander of Songkhola Provincial Police, told Reuters initial forensic investigations suggested the victims might have died of diseases and malnutrition, not from violent acts.
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