Three Rohingya refugees suffocate to death in Thailand

BANGKOK: Three Rohingya refugees suffocated to death while packed into trucks in Thailand, with two suspected people-smugglers arrested on Friday, police said.

The mainly Muslim Rohingya are heavily persecuted in war-torn western Myanmar, and thousands risk their lives each year to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia through Thailand.

A passing monk found two dead refugees, along with eight survivors -- seven of them injured -- in a forest in Chumphon province on Thursday, officers said.

One of the injured refugees died on Friday, a hospital staff member told AFP.

The uninjured survivor told police that traffickers had packed 26 people into two vehicles after they had made their way across the Thai-Myanmar border.