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Bangkok: Fifty-four illegal Myanmar immigrants died of suffocation while being smuggled into Thailand in a refrigerated container, police said on Thursday.
Another 67 people in the same vehicle were rescued from the container truck, with over 20 being treated in hospital, police said.
"They were kept inside the sealed truck for hours without air because the air-conditioning system failed. Many of them pounded the sides of the truck for help," said Sergeant Phuvanai Wattanasamai.
The driver of the truck parked the vehicle on a road about five kilometres from the coast, let his passengers out, and fled the scene before midnight on Wednesday, Phuvanai said.
"We don't know how long they had been hidden inside the container truck, but over 100 were packed into the vehicle," he said.
Thirty-seven of the dead were women and police had detained 46 survivors for illegal entry. Police were also hunting for the driver.
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