Another Myanmar Migrant Returnee Hangs Himself in the Irrawaddy Delta

By Salai Thant Zin 6 July 2020

PATHEIN, Ayeyarwady Region—A returned migrant worker who was in a COVID-19 quarantine center in Pathein after returning from Thailand committed suicide by hanging himself on Friday evening.

Since May, Myanmar nationals returning from foreign countries have been placed in 21-day mandatory quarantine at quarantine centers in their respective townships by regional and state governments.

Ko Nay Lin Htet, 27, who worked in Mahachai, Thailand, returned to Myanmar through a land border and entered facility quarantine in Pathein on June 26.

“He went into the toilet and hung himself. As it was raining, we could not hear the sounds from outside. We only found out after a while. Then we contacted the concerned authorities,” said an official at the quarantine center in Pathein, which is a converted cooperative training school.

Ko Nay Lin Htet was a native of Ayeyarwady’s Myanaung Township. He used a polyester rope to kill himself, according to the police.

He was the second person to commit suicide while in quarantine Pathein. Ko Chit Thaung, 28, who returned from China, committed suicide using his long-sleeve shirt in the toilet of the isolation ward at Pathein Hospital in June.

“We are investigating the death of a 27-year-old man who returned from Thailand,” said regional police spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Tun Shwe of Ko Nay Lin Htet. He said the body has been sent to Pathein Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Another Myanmar migrant worker who returned from Thailand also committed suicide on Friday by slitting his throat at the immigration reception center in Myawaddy, on the Myanmar side of the Myawaddy-Mae Sot land border crossing.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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