Pyapon Township, Daw Nyein village-tracts, administrator said that there were over 100 cases of murder, missing and jumping into water from floating fishing rafts.

Administrator Shwe Paw told media, “We have not yet finalized our data. There are over 100 cases of dead, missing, injured and [people] jumping into water reported to us. Some cases of jumping into water and overboard cases are immediately compensated to the amount of 600,000 kyats as per Labour Law without delay as damages.”

In the wake of a university student trafficked and forced to work on a floating fishing raft recently, that was reported in media and attracted a public outcry, Pyapon Township Floating Fishing Raft Business Association and businessmen of fishery industry held a press conference on November 30 in Pyapon town at Aung Naing Thu Hotel. 

In Pyapon Township, Daw Nyein village-tracts, there are seven big villages and seven small villages with about 6,500 houses and population of about 35,000. Most of the households in these villages engage mainly in fishery and many people from across the country work on fishing rafts.

Local fishery businessmen are facing a shortage of workers as people have to stay on fishing rafts at sea for about three months with meagre wages in addition to a dangerous and hazardous working environment. So human traffickers sell workers through agents. Usually there are over 100 cases of death and missing in this business annually.

Last year in Daw Nyein village-tracts alone, 201 workers were reported as either murder, jumping into water and missing including 37 deaths.