The Thai navy has detained a boat filled with 78 illegal migrants, many of whom had lacerations and burns they said were inflicted by Burmese soldiers, authorities said.
A navy patrol spotted the ethnic Rohingya migrants Monday in the Andaman sea off the country's southwest coast in a rickety boat with a broken engine, said navy Capt. Manat Kongpan.
They were put in police custody, but a senior Thai navy official said the migrants would be expelled once their boat was fixed.
The plight of the Rohingyas - a Muslim ethnic group who fled persecution in Burma - was highlighted earlier this month following accusations some of them have been abused by Thai authorities.
Human rights groups say that the Thai navy has twice intercepted boats filled with hundreds of Rohingyas and sent them back into the high seas, where hundreds later died.
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