Thailand rescues Myanmar shipwreck immigrants

BANGKOK, May 31 (TNA) – Thai Navy officers have rescued 41 Myanmar immigrants whose long-tail boat capsized late Thursday night off Thailand's southern seaside Ranong province, opposite Myanmar's Kawthaung Township. Kampanat Sangthongjin, head of the operational division under the Thai-Myanmar Border Fishery Coordination Centre, confirmed on Friday that there were a total of 41 survivors, 32 males, five females and one child, and all of them have been safely transported to the mainland. The senior Thai navy officer acknowledged, however, that three Myanmar immigrants of the ill-fated boat had been missing and his team later found their bodies in the seas, after a five-hour search, all are women aged 20-25. The long-tail boat carrying the illegal Myanmar immigrants from Kawthaung capsized off Koh Chang, the largest isle in Ranong on the southern Thai Andaman coast, just about two kilometres from the provincial mainland. (TNA)