The Issaraporn massacre
A section of the muddy Klong Tah Chin, where the four bodies were found.
Murder in the ‘Burmese Cemetery’ – the area around the Rassada fishing port – is by no means unknown, but the massacre of four Burmese aboard fishing boat Issaraporn 1 on October 17 was unprecedented in its ferocity.
The Gazette’s Sangkhae Leelanapaporn and Anongnat Sartpisut look at the story behind the headlines.
It was about 3am and Lan Thonghao and his seven shipmates were fast asleep aboard the Issaraporn 1 when they came.
Someone rapped on the door and Lan pulled himself from his bunk to open it.
“I got a glimpse of many people outside the door, then someone slashed my face and I fell to the floor unconscious.”
What happened after that, Lan does not know. He woke up hours later and was taken by the crew boss to Vachira Phuket Hospital for treatment.
“I didn’t know that other members of the crew had been killed until someone told me later,” the 20-year-old Burmese told the Gazette from his hospital bed.
The horror of that night was revealed over the next 24 hours as bodies were found floating in the water near the Rassada fishing port – first two, then two more.
The whereabouts of the other three men on the boat were, at the time of going to press, unknown. Perhaps they were killed or perhaps they escaped and fled, possibly with injuries.
Lan said that he did not know why the boat had been attacked, and that he could not identify those who carried out the massacre.
“It was very dark that night, and I had never seen their faces before. Everything happened very fast.”
Each of the victims in the slaughter had been stabbed at least five times about the head and face before being thrown into the water. Police said the injuries were horrific.
The killings are by no means the first in the area, which has come to be known as the “Burmese Cemetery” because of the number of murders that have been committed there in recent years, almost all of the dead being Burmese.
But what happened in the early hours of October 17 was unparalleled in its ferocity.
Pol Maj Yongyuth Krongmalai, Inspector of Phuket City Police Station, related what one witness told police.
The witness, a Thai employed to guard the Issaraporn 1, was not harmed by the assailants, who told him to get lost.
“He said that the attackers numbered about 20, all carrying knives, pieces of wood or lengths of sharpened reinforcing bar [rebar – used as tools aboard fishing boats]. Some of them swam out to the boat.
“The massacre lasted about 10 or 15 minutes. The victims, after being stabbed, were thrown overboard. Some of the attackers jumped into the water and attacked the victims again.
“Then finally they swam away into the darkness,” Maj Youngyuth said.
“Our understanding is that two groups of Burmese got into an argument the previous night. Then one side used their mobile phones to call their friends to help them kill the others.”
The Deputy Superintendent of Crime Suppression of Phuket City Police, Pol Lt Col Chatchai Nicrodhanon, said that investigations suggested that the massacre was possibly part of an ongoing war between the crew of the Issaraporn 1 and another vessel, one of whose crew had been stabbed earlier that night by a crewman from the Issaraporn.
“That night, at about 9 pm, a Burmese was stabbed and injured. I am concerned that there will be more fighting because, now, [the Issaraporn] side have lost four friends.
“I have ordered police patrols, both in uniform and undercover, to be stepped up. We also need more organized help frotm local people who should let us know what is going on,” Col Chatchai added.
“The Burmese are scared of the police, but when they get together as a group it boosts their courage and they are more difficult to control. The favored weapon is the sharpened rebar, which can simply be thrown in the sea after it has been used to stab someone,” he added.
Another difficulty lies in identifying corpses, Col Chatchai said. “They may have friends or relatives in Phuket, but these people never come forward. We get no co-operation or information [from Burmese].”
NO ID PAPERS
Usually there are no identifying documents because the crewmen’s bosses hang onto their IDs as a way of preventing employees from running away. In any case, many of the Burmese have no papers at all. They are in Phuket illegally.
“On October 19 I called the fishing boat owners to a meeting to discuss ways to solve the problem of Burmese being murdered in Rassada Port. I urged them to employ only Burmese who have the correct papers allowing them to work in Thailand,” Col Chatchai said.
But whether the employers will comply is open to question. “They have to pay almost 5,000 baht for each alien registration card. That’s not a small amount, because some businesses need to employ hundreds of alien workers.”
After a Burmese has been hired legally, he may walk off the job after a few days – which is 5,000 baht down the drain. “This is why there are so many illegal workers here,” Col Chatchai said.
Meanwhile, Issaraporn 1 crewman Lan counts himself lucky to be alive, but his dreams of making a decent living in Thailand have evaporated.
A fisherman before in Myanmar, he had been working on boats based in Phuket for eight months before the attack. Now all he wants to do is go home.
“When my face is better I will go back to Burma,” he said. “I don’t know what I will do there, but it’s better that I go home.”
-This is the real problem of violence in Phuket- the Burmeses Fishermen fighting each other and it has been going on for years and limited to Phuket Town- it is not Thai's and Farang's and never has been or will be.
There are a lot of people posting views that just make no sense, as if one tourist is being killed every day by a Thai- this is not the case.
Far more people have died in Phuket and Thailand from getting drunk and climbing on the back of a motorbike at night- when they or the driver is not capable.
This guy died for what ever reason (and I guess we may never know)- and whilst sad for his family and loved ones- it does not reflect on Phuket in general or more specifically that it is not a safe place to visit- it is safe.
Regards
Drew
A section of the muddy Klong Tah Chin, where the four bodies were found.
Murder in the ‘Burmese Cemetery’ – the area around the Rassada fishing port – is by no means unknown, but the massacre of four Burmese aboard fishing boat Issaraporn 1 on October 17 was unprecedented in its ferocity.
The Gazette’s Sangkhae Leelanapaporn and Anongnat Sartpisut look at the story behind the headlines.
It was about 3am and Lan Thonghao and his seven shipmates were fast asleep aboard the Issaraporn 1 when they came.
Someone rapped on the door and Lan pulled himself from his bunk to open it.
“I got a glimpse of many people outside the door, then someone slashed my face and I fell to the floor unconscious.”
What happened after that, Lan does not know. He woke up hours later and was taken by the crew boss to Vachira Phuket Hospital for treatment.
“I didn’t know that other members of the crew had been killed until someone told me later,” the 20-year-old Burmese told the Gazette from his hospital bed.
The horror of that night was revealed over the next 24 hours as bodies were found floating in the water near the Rassada fishing port – first two, then two more.
The whereabouts of the other three men on the boat were, at the time of going to press, unknown. Perhaps they were killed or perhaps they escaped and fled, possibly with injuries.
Lan said that he did not know why the boat had been attacked, and that he could not identify those who carried out the massacre.
“It was very dark that night, and I had never seen their faces before. Everything happened very fast.”
Each of the victims in the slaughter had been stabbed at least five times about the head and face before being thrown into the water. Police said the injuries were horrific.
The killings are by no means the first in the area, which has come to be known as the “Burmese Cemetery” because of the number of murders that have been committed there in recent years, almost all of the dead being Burmese.
But what happened in the early hours of October 17 was unparalleled in its ferocity.
Pol Maj Yongyuth Krongmalai, Inspector of Phuket City Police Station, related what one witness told police.
The witness, a Thai employed to guard the Issaraporn 1, was not harmed by the assailants, who told him to get lost.
“He said that the attackers numbered about 20, all carrying knives, pieces of wood or lengths of sharpened reinforcing bar [rebar – used as tools aboard fishing boats]. Some of them swam out to the boat.
“The massacre lasted about 10 or 15 minutes. The victims, after being stabbed, were thrown overboard. Some of the attackers jumped into the water and attacked the victims again.
“Then finally they swam away into the darkness,” Maj Youngyuth said.
“Our understanding is that two groups of Burmese got into an argument the previous night. Then one side used their mobile phones to call their friends to help them kill the others.”
The Deputy Superintendent of Crime Suppression of Phuket City Police, Pol Lt Col Chatchai Nicrodhanon, said that investigations suggested that the massacre was possibly part of an ongoing war between the crew of the Issaraporn 1 and another vessel, one of whose crew had been stabbed earlier that night by a crewman from the Issaraporn.
“That night, at about 9 pm, a Burmese was stabbed and injured. I am concerned that there will be more fighting because, now, [the Issaraporn] side have lost four friends.
“I have ordered police patrols, both in uniform and undercover, to be stepped up. We also need more organized help frotm local people who should let us know what is going on,” Col Chatchai added.
“The Burmese are scared of the police, but when they get together as a group it boosts their courage and they are more difficult to control. The favored weapon is the sharpened rebar, which can simply be thrown in the sea after it has been used to stab someone,” he added.
Another difficulty lies in identifying corpses, Col Chatchai said. “They may have friends or relatives in Phuket, but these people never come forward. We get no co-operation or information [from Burmese].”
NO ID PAPERS
Usually there are no identifying documents because the crewmen’s bosses hang onto their IDs as a way of preventing employees from running away. In any case, many of the Burmese have no papers at all. They are in Phuket illegally.
“On October 19 I called the fishing boat owners to a meeting to discuss ways to solve the problem of Burmese being murdered in Rassada Port. I urged them to employ only Burmese who have the correct papers allowing them to work in Thailand,” Col Chatchai said.
But whether the employers will comply is open to question. “They have to pay almost 5,000 baht for each alien registration card. That’s not a small amount, because some businesses need to employ hundreds of alien workers.”
After a Burmese has been hired legally, he may walk off the job after a few days – which is 5,000 baht down the drain. “This is why there are so many illegal workers here,” Col Chatchai said.
Meanwhile, Issaraporn 1 crewman Lan counts himself lucky to be alive, but his dreams of making a decent living in Thailand have evaporated.
A fisherman before in Myanmar, he had been working on boats based in Phuket for eight months before the attack. Now all he wants to do is go home.
“When my face is better I will go back to Burma,” he said. “I don’t know what I will do there, but it’s better that I go home.”
-This is the real problem of violence in Phuket- the Burmeses Fishermen fighting each other and it has been going on for years and limited to Phuket Town- it is not Thai's and Farang's and never has been or will be.
There are a lot of people posting views that just make no sense, as if one tourist is being killed every day by a Thai- this is not the case.
Far more people have died in Phuket and Thailand from getting drunk and climbing on the back of a motorbike at night- when they or the driver is not capable.
This guy died for what ever reason (and I guess we may never know)- and whilst sad for his family and loved ones- it does not reflect on Phuket in general or more specifically that it is not a safe place to visit- it is safe.
Regards
Drew
Luckily I got slaughtered that night and the memory of his look faded from memory a bit. Ugly!! 
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