PADANG BESAR: Thai police trekked into the mountains and dug up 26 bodies from dozens of shallow graves at an abandoned jungle camp that’s been linked to human trafficking networks, which activists say are “out of control” in the Southeast Asian country.

A lone survivor, now hospitalised with severe malnutrition, told authorities smugglers escaped days earlier with around 100 Rohingya Muslims, a long-persecuted religious minority in neighbouring Myanmar.

Police Gen. Jarumporn Suramanee, who oversaw the excavations in southern Thailand, said on Saturday it would take time to determine the victims’ identities and cause of death.

“We will have to wait for the DNA test results and analysis from other evidence,” he said.

He said that 32 graves were found scattered in Padang Besar, a sub-district in Songkhla province, but some turned out to be empty. He did not expect the death toll to rise above 26.

The discovery of a hidden mountain camp in southern Thailand, long considered a regional trafficking hub for migrants seeking a better life in third countries, was a sharp reminder that little has changed despite repeated assurances by authorities that they are addressing the root causes.

A government spokesman, Maj. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, issued a stern reaction, saying his country was determined “to eliminate every type of human trafficking and block Thailand from being a transit point.”

Those behind the camp will be “severely punished,” he added, regardless of whether they were common criminals or corrupt officials.

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, called for an independent investigation with UN involvement to determine what happened at the site.

“Trafficking of persons in Thailand has long been out of control,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“The finding of a mass grave at a trafficking camp sadly comes as little surprise”.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2015

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