REFUGEE CAMP TRAGEDY: Flash floods leave 14 dead

Published on Sep 4, 2002

A flash flood swept through two refugee camps on the northern Thai-Burmese border, killing at least 14 people with about 30 others, mostly children, unaccounted for, officials said yesterday.

Officials in Mae Hong Son's Mae Sariang district said the flood hit the two camps - Ban Mae Sala and Ban Mae Kong Kha - without warning at about 4pm on Monday. The torrent destroyed thatched huts and other makeshift shelters, said Local Administration Department director-general Apai Chandanachulaka, who arrived in the district yesterday to inspect the area.

Rescue workers discovered 14 bodies yesterday morning following intensive search-and-rescue efforts. Others still missing are presumed to have been swept into the Salween River and drowned.

The two camps house more than 15,000 mostly ethnic Karen and Karenni refugees, who had fled Burma to escape clashes between rebel armies and government troops. The camps are part of a string of makeshift shelters, which for the past two decades have housed more then 120,000 refugees.

A representative from the All Burma Student Democratic Front, an exiled Burmese group working in the camp, was reported by Agence-France Presse as saying that three primary schools, a church and a hospital for the disabled had been destroyed.

Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun travelled to the area yesterday afternoon to inspect the damage.

More then 200 rescue workers - including soldiers, border patrol police and aid workers - took part in the search-and-rescue operation yesterday.

Mae Hong Son Governnor Poj U-thana said access to the camps was extremely difficult as some roads were impassable or severely damaged, while communication with rescue workers in the area was poor.

Heavy rain has continued to fall, posing a risk of more flash floods or landslides, and poor visibility made it extremely dangerous for helicopters to land.

A mudslide made the road linking Tha Song Yang and Mae Sariang districts impassable, and soldiers were sent yesterday to help clear the road.

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