Army to bring 41 Thais stranded in Myanmar home this week
The Royal Thai Army (RTA) announced on Tuesday that it would start bringing the first batch of 41 Thai workers in Myanmar home via the border checkpoint in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province by Thursday or Friday.
The mission is a collaboration between the RTA, the Thai-Myanmar Township Border Committee and the United Wa State Army to transport Thais stranded in the conflict area in Laukkaing, a town in Myanmar’s Kokong Self-Administered Zone.
Kokong is in the north of Shan State near the Chinese border, where fighting between the Myanmar junta military and ethnic armed groups of the Brotherhood Alliance has been going on since last month.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, over 200 Thais have been stranded by the ongoing clashes after being conned into working for a Chinese call-centre gang in Laukkaing.
The RTA said that the Wa army would transport the Thais from Laukkaing to Nanteng and then to Kengtung in Shan state, where officials of the RTA’s 3rd Army Area will be waiting to bring them home in air-conditioned buses. The transport will be under the supervision of the Myanmar army.
The commute from Nanteng to the Mae Sai border checkpoint would take 3-5 days, the RTA added.
Upon arriving at the border checkpoint, the Thai workers will undergo health screening by officials from Fort Mengrai Maharaj Hospital, then undergo the usual immigration and humanitarian processes.
The RTA said it would continue to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related agencies to bring the rest of the Thais stranded in Laukkaing home as soon as possible.
