BANGKOK: A Thai military helicopter carrying nine army personnel has crashed in northern Thailand killing all on board, an army spokesman said yesterday. The two-blade, twin-engine Bell 212 helicopter crashed 10 minutes after it took off from an army camp in Phayao province, 590km from the capital Bangkok, deputy Royal Thai Army spokeswoman, Colonel Sirijan Ngathong, said.
The helicopter was carrying nine officers including Major General Songphol Thongjeen, deputy Third Area Army commander overseeing Thailand’s north. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, Royal Thai Army spokesman, Winthai Suvaree, said.
Thailand’s military has a history of fatal helicopter crashes. Three in 2011, just days apart, left 17 people dead and forced the army to ground its fleet of Bell 212 helicopters. Engine failure and poor visibility are often blamed for the crashes.
Bangla navy halts ship with migrants
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s navy yesterday intercepted a ship in the Bay of Bengal carrying hundreds of migrants being taken to Malaysia by people-smugglers, officers said.
Most of the would-be migrants were from Bangladesh, but some were thought to be from Myanmar, an officer said on condition of anonymity. “There are 500-600 people in the boat,” the officer said.
“Some 90 percent of those aboard the boat are Bangladeshis and the rest are from Myanmar. The crew are all from Myanmar.”
Thousands of poor Bangladeshi and ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar try to migrate to Malaysia every year on a perilous and sometimes fatal 3,200km journey.
Rights groups say thousands have perished along the way, while thousands more have fallen into the hands of people-traffickers.
Bangladesh’s coastguard and border forces have launched crackdowns on economic migrants, confiscating their ships and arresting a number of human traffickers. Police said the boat was “heading to Malaysia illegally” and would be taken into shore. Thousands of Rohingya —a Muslim minority group not recognised as citizens in Myanmar —have fled deadly communal unrest in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since 2012.Agencies
