Lethal mudslide sweeps through border refugee camp

The Mae La Oon refugee camp in Sop Moei district of Mae Hong Son on Monday, after it was hit by a mudslide overnight. (Photo from @Disaster_TH Twitter account)

A child was confirmed dead and seven people were reported missing after a mudslide hit a Myanmar refugee camp in Mae Hong Son on Sunday night, with another 11 people injured.

The torrent of earth and rocks, triggered by heavy rain, poured down the hill and into the refugee camp, in Ban Mae La Oon in Sob Moei district, near the border.

Provincial governor Sirirat Chumuppakan said in a report to the Interior Ministry on Monday that a 2-year-old girl was killed by the torrent of mud and rocks. Seven people were missing, one a 3-year-old boy.

The mudslide also injured 11 other people, and completely destroyed seven houses in the camp. Another six homes were damaged.

All the victims were refugees from Myanmar.

Charuek Laoprasert, assistant to the governor, said medical staff and other assistance had been sent to the camp.

Ban Mae La Oon is by the Yuman River. It houses about 9,000 displaced people from Myanmar, most of them ethnic Karen, according to figures released in August last year by the Border Consortium, a non-govermental organisation helping Myanmar refugees along the Thai border.

Dryng mud and rocks at Mae La Oon cam on MOnday. (Photo from @Disaster_TH Twitter account)



