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A film capturing eyewitness accounts of the appalling maltreatment of Burmese fishermen in Thailand was released on Thursday at the Fishers’ Conference of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in Pusan, South Korea.

Titled “Abandoned, not Forgotten,” the 10-minute documentary was produced and directed by David Browne for the ITF.

In one scene, an ex-fisherman describes how a cook beat a young Burmese crew member with an iron bar. “The skipper asked if the guy was dead or not. I told him: ‘He hasn't died yet, leave him alone, I'll look after him.’ The guy was hit again on the back of his head and his brains spilled out. He took an hour to die.”

He concluded: “I think our Burmese boatman die like dogs and pigs.”

By Joel Brinkley
McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Don't ever accept an invitation to go fishing in Thailand. You might not come back.

Almost daily, bodies are washing ashore along the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Cambodia. These are unfortunate migrants, most of them from here in Cambodia. These people were sold to Thai fishermen who took them out to sea, worked them until they starved to death and then threw them overboard. It happens all the time.