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Less than two weeks after the deaths of the 54 migrants in Ranong captured international headlines, Thai newspapers reported that immigration police in Phuket had arrested 50 illegal migrants from Burma and were in the process of deporting them.

It remains unclear what will happen to the survivors of the Ranong incident, which has seriously tarnished Thailand’s international image and highlighted the plight of Burmese migrants. Most remain in detention, and some have even spoken with members of a delegation of Burmese officials, who were quick to blame the Thai authorities for the deaths.

In all probability, the situation of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand will continue largely unchanged once the media attention from this latest episode has blown over. For most migrants, this means slipping back into the shadows of Thai society, hoping to remain as unnoticed as they are unprotected.

For Aung Saw Shwe, who lived through the horrors of witnessing the suffocation of 54 fellow migrants, there is no question of turning back. “I don’t want to be smuggled again, but maybe I have no choice,” he said, adding that another attempt to get to Phuket may be the only option available to him.