(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-11 15:10

SUKSAMRAN, Thailand - A Thai court has issued an arrest warrant for the driver of a container truck in which 54 Myanmar migrant workers suffocated as they were smuggled into Thailand, officials said on Friday.

A policeman walks near a truck with a container, used to smuggle illegal Myanmar migrants, at a police station in Sooksamran district, Ranong province, south of Bangkok April 10, 2008. [Agencies]

The owner of the 20-ft truck, in which 120 migrants were crammed upright in the locked container and began passing out when the air conditioning failed, was arrested after he turned himself in for questioning on Thursday.

The driver, identified by police as Suchon Boonplong, was believed to be hiding on the southern tourist island of Phuket after he abandoned the truck late on Wednesday.

"Police from various units are looking for Suchon and other people involved in the trafficking ring," Police Major General Apirak Hongthong told reporters.

Related readings:  54 illegal immigrants from Myanmar die in Thailand

Both men will be charged with conspiracy to hide, help or smuggle illegal aliens into Thailand, and for careless actions causing death. If convicted, they face a maximum 10 years in jail, police said.

Survivors said they pounded on the sides of the truck and tried to call the driver on his mobile phone after the air conditioning system failed.

"We contacted the driver using a mobile phone, but he told us in Burmese to keep quiet and make no trouble," Tida Toy, 21, told the Bangkok Post newspaper.

"He switched off the phone and drove on," she said.

Their horrific deaths have sparked outrage from rights groups and renewed calls for tough action against human trafficking networks in the region.

The survivors were due to appear in court in the southern province of Ranong on Friday to face charges of illegal entry. Police said some could be deported immediately after the hearing.

Aye, whose 8-year-old daughter died in the truck, said she could not provide for her other two children in Myanmar -- a 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son -- if she was unable to work in Thailand.

"I am very worried about my future. What will happen to my two children at home? I can't afford to live at home. There is nothing for me to do there," she told Reuters from her police cell.