14 More Thai Fishing Crew Members Arrive from Somalia

BANGKOK, Aug 30 (TNA) – The rest 14 Thai fishing crew members arrived back from Somalia while six colleagues continued to work for their Iranian employer. Labour Minister MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul received the people at Suvarnabhumi airport in Samut Prakan province this morning. They thanked the minister for helping them return to Thailand. The 14 people were the last group of Thai fishing workers earlier abandoned in the Somali sea. They had worked aboard Wadani 2 fishing boat and are natives of Buri Ram, Surin, Samut Sakhon, Sakon Nakhon, Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Phanom, Uthai Thani and Ranong provinces. Labour officials provided the workers with accommodation and transport to their home provinces. Officials and police will interrogate them later for prosecution on human trafficking cases. The labour minister said that Thai workers should seek overseas jobs through legal channels so that they would be effectively protected from abuse. He promised that the Labour Ministry would demand overdue wage payment for the workers who returned from Somalia. (TNA)