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[Note: Clicking on a photo will provide an enlargement of the photo]
Huay Kaloke (Wangka) Karen refugee camp is located approximately 10 kilometres north of the Thai town of Mae Sot and just 3 kilometres over open fields from the border with Burma. It has been attacked and burned by SPDC and DKBA troops both in 1997 and in 1998, and at the time of printing there are extreme fears that another attack may be imminent. Thai authorities have agreed to move the camp to a safer location but have already been delaying the fulfillment of this promise for close to a year. As though the refugees in Huay Kaloke did not have enough problems already, in the late afternoon of February 2nd the camp was hit by a sudden wind and rain storm. Though the storm lasted no more than 30 minutes, it destroyed over 90 of the makeshift houses in the camp and many of their contents, as well as part of the camp hospital and school. The school collapsed on a group of students who were sheltering inside, and 14-year-old Kyaw Ler Thait was killed by a beam that fell across the back of his neck.
For more background on Huay Kaloke refugee camp, see "Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps: 1998" (KHRG #98-04, 29/5/98) and other related KHRG reports.
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Photos #H1, H2, H3, H4, H5: Some of the over 90 houses which were blown down in Huay Kaloke refugee camp in the first week of February 1999. Photo #H3 shows the collapsed school building, where one of the students was killed. [Photos: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #H6: Kyaw Ler Thait, age 14, Pwo Karen Buddhist from Taun Wih village, Pa’an township, a student at the small Pwo Karen school in Huay Kaloke. He was sheltering from the storm in the main camp school building and was killed when it collapsed in the storm. A beam fell on the back of his neck. He then managed to crawl out from under the wreckage, but fell unconscious and died. Kyaw Ler Thait was the eldest of 3 siblings. [Photo: KHRG monitor]