Traffickers ‘may have left thousands to die’

THOUSANDS of Burmese migrants may have died of hunger, thirst or drowning after human traffickers abandoned them at sea, according to a report that warns of an imminent repeat of the humanitarian catastrophe in May.

Dozens of boats packed with migrants, most of them persecuted Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma, are unaccounted for, according to Amnesty International. Refugees who survived the journey this summer have described brutal beatings several times a day at the hands of captors, and murders by shooting or drowning.

‘‘The daily physical abuse faced by Rohingya who were trapped on boats in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea is almost too horrific to put into words,’’ Anna Shea, of Amnesty, said.

‘‘They had escaped Burma but had only traded one nightmare for another . . .

‘‘With the monsoon over and a new ‘sailing season’ already under way, thousands more could be taking to boats.’’

The migrants, who included women and children, were Bangladeshis and members of the stateless Rohingya people fleeing oppression and deprivation in Burma for the promise of work in Malaysia and Thailand.

After migrant death camps containing dozens of bodies were discovered, the Thai authorities were shamed into taking action against people smuggling, which led to the traffickers abandoning boats overburdened with migrants.

Some of the refugees spent six months on huge boats containing 1500 people, often on cramped, airless, covered decks where they had to sit cross-legged in filthy conditions. One boat had two toilets for 600 people.