Man crushed to death in meat grinder

A migrant worker from Myanmar was killed when he slipped into a meat grinder at a pet food factory in Thailand, police said yesterday.

The man, who was identified as 37-year-old Zaw May Zir, died on Monday evening at a factory in south-eastern Chonburi province, 80km from Bangkok.

"It was an accident," Lieutenant Thaninthorn Suaypan, a case officer with Chonburi police, told AFP by telephone.

"I went to examine the man with the doctor and the lower half of his body was crushed," he added.

It is believed the man, who had worked at the factory for five years, was unable to extricate himself from the grinder because it was filled with glue used to create artificial bones for dogs to chew on.

"When he fell into the mixer, he could not move because of the glue," Lt Thaninthorn said.

Police said the man's wife had been informed of her husband's death.

Colleagues described him as a good worker. The factory, which was identified as Pet Smart, did not pick up the phone when contacted by AFP.

More than a million poor foreign workers are employed in Thailand. They are mainly from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

EXPLOITATION

Many work in the country illegally, which leaves them open to exploitation by employers in industries where safety standards are notoriously lax, said labour groups.

Thailand's junta, which seized power last May, has vowed to document all migrant workers in the country in a bid to crack down on illegal employment.

In March, they reported that at least 1.6 million workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have been registered so far.

The pet food factory worker's death happened on the same day that a horrific traffic collision killed nine Myanmar migrants who were working in Thailand's fishing industry.

Police said 26 workers were crammed into the vehicle after their shift when the accident happened late on Monday, in the coastal province of Samut Sakhon, 45 km from Bangkok.

This article was first published on April 30, 2015.
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