Hundreds of Burmese migrant workers converge on border with Thailand to return home

Hundreds of Burmese migrant workers converge on border with Thailand to return home

More than 1,000 Burmese migrant workers converged at a border checkpoint in northern Thailand to return to their home country.

Thousands have already fled after the borders were closed last Saturday (March 21).

However, there were still a substantial number of people who had just arrived at the border in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand on Wednesday (March 25) morning.

The locals sheriff had to involve and coordinate with the Burmese borders to help them out.

Footage shows the moment when they were eventually allowed to cross the border in the afternoon with the escort of both countries' officers.

The sheriff Somsak Kanakham said they wanted to help the workers to go back to their country.

He said: "We received help from the Burnese sending back Thai people before so I did not mind doing the same thing for their people." However, it was reported that many of the workers were not yet allowed to cross the border and they will be held for quarantine to check they are healthy.