# 54 Burmese Die Stuffed Inside a Lorry **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848 "2008-04-11T04:27:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/1 "2008-04-11T04:27:24Z")
Story [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/10/thailand.myanmar.ap/index.html). Out of 121 illegal immigrants stuffed inside. Just so you’ll know it’s not all fun and games in Thailand, although I suppose I make it sound like that at times. ☹ Illegal Burmese workers are treated horribly in Thailand. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/2 "2008-04-11T06:02:30Z")
Oh my god, those poor people. It’s the "[58 Chinese immigrants suffocate in lorry crossing to Dover in 2000"](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/810210.stm)-story all over again. Stories like these illustrate the two faces of human trafficking. On the one hand, there are people wanting a better future for themselves; on the other hand, traffickers create situations like the one in your OP. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/3 "2008-04-11T07:36:01Z")
A first-hand CNN account from a survivor is [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/11/thailand.myanmar.deaths/index.html). A better one in the local press is [here](http://www.dailyxpress.net/2008/04/11/coverstory/coverstory_1467.php). And it’s friggin’ HOT here now, too. We are in the middle of the hottest time of the year for this part of the world. It feels like we’re living on the Sun. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/4 "2008-04-11T08:52:17Z")
I was worried that it was cats. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/5 "2008-04-11T09:28:06Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] Oh my god, those poor people. It’s the "[58 Chinese immigrants suffocate in lorry crossing to Dover in 2000"](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/810210.stm)-story all over again. [/QUOTE] Or indeed [78 protesters die after being stuffed in back of lorry by Thai police](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3954587.stm). ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/6 "2008-04-11T10:12:38Z")
Fucking hell, that’s horrible. I don’t have much else to say, except **Sam** , thanks for your posts on Southeast Asia. I always read your threads and they’re always interesting and point me to stories I might otherwise miss. Keep it up. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/7 "2008-04-11T10:25:09Z")
The article linked upthread says: > [@The Daily Xpress](#): > > The airtight refrigerated container measures just six by two metres. Okay, so that’s around 19 feet by 6½ feet, right? Good lord, I just can’t wrap my mind around 120 people in such a small space. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/8 "2008-04-11T10:36:28Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] I don’t have much else to say, except **Sam** , thanks for your posts on Southeast Asia. I always read your threads and they’re always interesting and point me to stories I might otherwise miss. Keep it up. [/QUOTE] I just want to second this. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/9 "2008-04-11T15:40:22Z")
Seconding **Kyla:** **Sam,** thanks for your efforts to keep everyone informed, about a neck of the woods that is pretty remote for most of us. You fight ignorance well, even when the truth hurts. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/10 "2008-04-11T15:44:27Z")
Thanks all for the kind words. :o ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/11 "2008-04-11T17:23:42Z")
Happens a lot down out of Mexico, too. I have to admire the people risking it all to come here. I have feel the people doing this to them are scum. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/12 "2008-04-11T17:54:11Z")
[QUOTE=The Them] Seconding **Kyla:** **Sam,** thanks for your efforts to keep everyone informed, about a neck of the woods that is pretty remote for most of us. You fight ignorance well, even when the truth hurts. ☹ [/QUOTE] Heck, thanks **Sam** for keeping _me_ informed of what goes on _here_. :o I really should channel the news more often, or ever to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/13 "2008-04-11T21:48:31Z")
[QUOTE=Fiveroptic] Okay, so that’s around 19 feet by 6½ feet, right? Good lord, I just can’t wrap my mind around 120 people in such a small space. [/QUOTE] That’s insane. Only just barely over one square foot per person. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Shryn\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Shryn\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shryn_King)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/14 "2008-04-11T22:34:11Z")
Siam Sam, thank you for sharing that link. It breaks my heart. I have had the joy of knowing some Karen Refugees who are now in the US and I am working with someone who is trying to bring over two orphans that are in a refugee camp there in Thailand. Are there a lot of “migrant” Myanmar refugees who choose not to go into the camps? I’m thankful that the US finally signed the waiver in 2006 that would allow them to enter the US through the refugee program. I realized that there were a lot of Myanmar refugees still in the camps waiting…I just had not thought of them migrating in to Thailand because of the reported mistreatment. Not that the refugee camps are much better. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/15 "2008-04-12T00:52:08Z")
[QUOTE=Shryn King] Are there a lot of “migrant” Myanmar refugees who choose not to go into the camps? [/QUOTE] It’s hard to say, but one news story linked above gave a figure for undocumented Burmese workers, and such figures are almost certainly low. Thailand is not very big on refugee camps, ever since that whole Khmer Rouge thing. The experience with the refugee camps over near that border was not a pleasant one for Thailand, and they seem determined not to become saddled with that sort of thing again. And especially regarding the Burmese, who have been traditional rivals with and enemies of Thailand for centuries, with many a bitter war fought. It was the Burmese who completely sacked and destroyed the old capital of Ayutthaya in 1767, thus bringing to an end that centuries-old dynasty. (Shortly after is when everything was moved to Bangkok.) So the Thais are not big on Burmese to begin with, to say the least. Or, sadly, on human rights either; that’s just not high up on the list of priorities. So the few refugees camps that do exist for Burmese tend to be wretched places. I, too, would rather take my chances elsewhere. In the tsunami, also. There were many Burmese illegals working in the South who must have been lost. Some Burmese survivors surfaced after scrounging around in the countryside for weeks. Being illegal, they never dared to show up for any of the aid that was available afterward. They simply were not considered a big concern. Thailand’s official death toll in the tsunami I believe stands at about 5000, but people who have looked into this estimate 20,000 as a more realistic number. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/16 "2008-04-12T17:50:53Z")
[QUOTE=bathsheba] I was worried that it was cats. [/QUOTE] Heh?!? Hey, it happens here in the good old [USA](http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/05/news/smuggle.php) too. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/17 "2008-04-12T18:13:17Z")
[QUOTE=bathsheba] I was worried that it was cats. [/QUOTE] Well, I wasn’t _worried_ that it was cats, but it was my first assumption that the thread would be about too since it was such a high number. 54 cats is bad enough, but people is really really terrible. **Darryl Lict** : [Burmese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_%28cat%29) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/54-burmese-die-stuffed-inside-a-lorry/444848/18 "2008-05-20T02:58:03Z")
There’s an update to this story [here](http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_238971.html). Basically, Thailand returned 56 of the 66 surviviors yesterday (Monday), with 10 held behind to testify in court. Of course, they’re returning to a storm-ravaged country, but they reentered Burma across the border near where they’re all apparently from, and the border area did not sustain very much damage.