An official statement was given yesterday with details about the circumstances that led to the death of the 54 migrant workers on Wednesday. Apparently, the 121 people were being transported into Thailand by smugglers to work illegally.

The truck’s container, normally used for transporting seafood and measuring 20 feet long and 7 feet wide was by no means made for such a use, people finishing their the air supply long before the end of the trip.

Each one of the 121 people had paid close to $160 for the trip, considering the destination much more important than the trip’s comfort. As people started fainting and others became alarmed, some tried calling the driver on his mobile phone but he didn’t answer and finally stopped the truck after the migrants banged heavily on the walls of the container.

None of them had identification papers, leaving the authorities to rely on the words of survivors. At this point, according to CNN Asia, seventeen bodies have not yet been identified.

The survivors are due to appear in court today in the southern province of Ranong for their illegal entry in the country and are expected to be deported as soon as the hearing will be over.

About 2 million migrants from all across the region work in Thailand and unfortunately only 500,000 conduct their activities legally.

 The incident is now part of a long line of similar mishaps that include the 2003 suffocation of 19 Latin American migrants in Texas and in 2001 in Britain, 58 Chinese migrants died after being crowded in a tomato truck.