A 28‑year‑old woman from Yala was found dead in a canal along the Thai‑Cambodian border after attempting to escape forced labour in Cambodia on Wednesday.
Police said the woman, identified only as Faseeyah, died while attempting to cross from Poipet back into Thailand near the Rong Kluea Market border crossing in Sa Kaeo province, after being deceived and sold into illegal labour in Cambodia.
She is believed to have become separated from others while crossing Phrom Hod Canal, a narrow but deep waterway linking to areas near the market and reportedly could not swim. Rangers patrolling the Thai side were alerted and found her body floating in the canal, thought to have been there for at least three days, before rescue workers recovered it for a post‑mortem examination.
The victim’s mother, Che Bungo Yusoh, 52, said she had not seen her daughter in six years.
Rescue team arrived at the scene at the Phrom Hod Canal. (Photo: Abdullah Benjakat)
Near the end of May, Faseeyah called her parents via a messaging application, said she had transferred 4,000 baht for family expenses, and asked her mother to take care of her two sons, leaving her belongings to them. The family thought nothing of it at the time.
Mrs Che Bungo said she is not convinced her daughter drowned, since the phone Faseeyah used regularly was never recovered — only a newly bought handset, apparently intended as a gift for her sons. Friends who had previously been in contact blocked the family and deleted the connection afterwards, leaving no one to ask for more information.
The mother said Faseeyah had worked at a Thai restaurant in Malaysia before marrying a man from Narathiwat, with whom she had a son. The couple divorced while the boy, Imran, was still young, and he went to live with his father. She later remarried a man from Pattani province, but they separated two months into her pregnancy. The woman returned to her mother’s home, where she gave birth to a second son.
Just 45 days later, aged about 22, she left both her son and her mother’s house to find work in Bangkok, never explaining what the work was and never sending money home. She did not return.
The family only learned she had gone to work in Cambodia around last year’s Thai‑Cambodian border conflict in July. They heard her voice for the first time in years in May this year — and were informed of her death by a foundation soon after.
The spot where the body was recovered. The white line marks the Thai-Cambodian border. (Photo: Abdullah Benjakat)
Both boys are now being raised by their grandmother. Mrs Che Bungo said she has been left hoarse from crying since the news broke, and the family will hold a memorial ceremony seven days after the death.
She is believed to have become separated from others while crossing Phrom Hod Canal, a narrow but deep canal linking to waterways near the market, and reportedly could not swim. Rangers patrolling the Thai side were alerted and found her body floating in the canal, thought to have been there for at least three days, before rescue workers recovered it for a post-mortem examination.
