PHATTHALUNG: Six Royingya children escaped from a government-operated shelter in Muang district of this southern province on Friday night.
Police and officials from the Phatthalung Shelter for Children and Families began the search after being alerted by shelter staff at around 9pm, said Pol Lt Col Sombat Muksikim, chief inspector at the Cha-ngai police station in Muang district.
The six children — all reportedly aged between 9 and 12 years — had been picked up in Phatthalung earlier in the day for illegal entry into the country. Immigration police had taken them to the shelter, operated by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, for temporary detention pending an investigation.
No other information was available about the youngsters, how they got to Phatthalung or where the other members of their families might be.
The children reportedly made their escape after having dinner. They used a chair to climb over the wall at the back of the shelter to flee to a rubber plantation nearby. A bag and sandals were found at the plantation and their other belongings were left behind at the shelter.
The search team looked for them on foot for more than two hours and failed to find them, said Pol Lt Col Sombat.
Police are working with local leaders and residents to help provide clues if they come across the escapees.
Many Rohingya Muslims make the journey from Myanmar or from refugee camps in Bangladesh, travelling via southern Thailand to seek jobs in Malaysia. Most have to pay job brokers and human traffickers, and cases of groups being abandoned before reaching their final destination are not uncommon.