A Muslim Rohingya woman fleeing ethnic persecution in Myanmar has suffocated in a vehicle as she was traveling with other refugees through southern Thailand.
Thai authorities said on Monday that they found five pickup trucks with nearly 100 Rohingya people the day before in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province’s Hua Sai district.
“There were total 98 Rohingya. Of them, one woman aged around 20 died from suffocation while travelling,” provincial police commander Kiattipong Khawsamang said.
Kiattipong added that the vehicle she was on had been extremely overcrowded and the victim apparently had no access to food.
Thai officials say two of the pickup drivers were detained for questioning over human trafficking.
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled the violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State since 2012.
Myanmar’s government has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslims from attacks carried out by Buddhist extremists.
The United Nations has described Myanmar’s 800,000 Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
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