MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to The Star newspaper, the deceased are believed to have been Rohingya and Bangladeshis, and suspected to have died of malnourishment or abuse.
"It was raining heavily recently and the downpour swept away the soil and revealed the remains. We don't know how long the victims were buried or if there was a transit camp there," National Security Council chairman Shahidan Kassim said, as quoted by the newspaper.
This is not the first time mass graves of suspected human trafficking victims are found in the region. In May, 139 graves were found.
Rohingyas are an ethnic Muslim group from predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. The Myanmar government denies citizenship to the Rohingya, treating them as undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh. Numerous Rohingya people have fled Myanmar to escape persecution to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, often at the hands of smugglers.
