PHATTHALUNG: Twenty-nine illegal migrants from Myanmar crammed into a pickup truck were arrested after the vehicle overturned on a southbound road in Muang district on Wednesday morning.
The modified pickup with a tarpaulin covering its bed overturned after its left rear tyre burst on Phetkasem Road along the Phatthalung-Hat Yai route in tambon Tha Khae around 6.30am on Wednesday.
The driver and passengers fled when police arrived at the scene, said Pol Capt Supachai Muen-aksorn, a duty officer at the Muang police station in Phatthalung.
All 29 passengers were later arrested about one kilometre away from the accident scene, where they were hiding in the houses of local residents, said police.
The 29 migrants included eight women and two children. One of them was injured in the accident. The driver is still at large.
During questioning, the migrants told police that they had crossed the border illegally into Ranong province and later stayed in Chumphon before heading to Songkhla. They had contacted Thai job brokers about working in another country.
