200 Burmese Feared Dead in Thailand

[tun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: 200 Burmese Feared Dead in Thailand Boat Disaster

Date: Sun, 13 Feb 1994 23:58:06 -0600
Subject: 200 Burmese Feared Dead in Thailand Boat Disaster
 
Subject: 200 Burmese Feared Dead in Thailand Boat Disaster
ACategory: international
 
         BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - About 200 Burmese workers, many
of them women and children, were feared dead Sunday after a boat
taking them home capsized off Thailand, police and rescue
workers said.
         Police and rescue workers told Reuters that by late Sunday
they had recovered 38 bodies, all but three of them women,  off
the southern Thai province of Ranong, 375 miles south of
Bangkok.
         Rescue workers and immigration officials said all the
victims appeared to be Burmese who had been working illegally in
Thailand and were returning home.
         Provincial Governor Chamnong Chalerm-rat said few details
about the incident were available. He told Reuters there were
some survivors but it was difficult to determine how many since
illegal immigrants were reluctant to be counted.
         The governor quoted immigration officials as saying the
vessel, about 65 feet long and 16 feet wide, had 230 registered
passengers but was believed to be carrying more.
         ``But at least more than 100 are believed killed,'' he said.
The accident occurred overnight and official sources said the
boat was on its way from Ranong to nearby Victoria Point in
Burma.
         The accident could be Thailand's worst maritime disaster,
with the number of dead surpassing 119 killed when a ferry
carrying vacationers was cut in two by an oil tanker during
Chinese New Year in 1992.
         ``But at least more than 100 are believed killed,'' he said.
The accident occurred overnight and official sources said the
boat was on its way from Ranong to nearby Victoria Point in
Burma.
         The accident could be Thailand's worst maritime disaster,
with the number of dead surpassing 119 killed when a ferry
carrying vacationers was cut in two by an oil tanker during
Chinese New Year in 1992.