About 30 graves believed to belong to migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been discovered in southern Thailand, a rescue worker says.
The grave site was found in the Sadao district of Songkhla province at an abandoned camp for `boat people` who had apparently been trafficked to Thailand`s border area with Malaysia.
"There are 32 graves, four bodies have now been exhumed and are on their way ... to hospital for an autopsy," rescue worker Sathit Thamsuwan said. He was at the scene soon after the site was found.
"The bodies were all decayed."
He added a single man from Bangladesh survived and was being treated at a hospital in nearby Padang Besar.
The local hospital confirmed the Bangladeshi man had survived and was in a stable condition.
National police chief general Somyot Poompanmoung described the site as a virtual "prison camp" where migrants were held in makeshift bamboo cells.
"There are 32 places that look like graves and whether there is one body or several bodies in those graves, we will we have to wait and see," he said.
He said the smugglers were believed to have abandoned the sick man when they moved Rohingya migrants across the border into Malaysia two days ago.
Local media said the camp and its lone survivor were stumbled upon by villagers looking for mushrooms.
The grisly discovery of the grave was also confirmed by a senior official from Sadao.
"Military and border patrol police have now cordoned the area off so we can bring forensic officials to the site," he said, requesting anonymity.
Those dead were believed to have starved to death or died of disease while awaiting ransom payments to be made so they could be smuggled into Malaysia, local media reported.
The area the graves were found in is notorious for housing remote camps for trafficked migrants.
