Flash flood leaves 28 dead or missing at refugee camp

A flash flood has swept through a camp for Myanmar refugees in northern Thailand and left 28 people either dead or missing.

Sixteen people, including three children, are confirmed dead and another 12 are missing and presumed dead.

About 15,000 refugees, mostly ethnic Karenni, have lived at the camp since 1995 after fleeing fighting between rebels and government forces.

The camp is about 12 miles from the Myanmar border and 400 miles north of Bangkok. About 120,000 Myanmar refugees live in such camps in northern Thailand.

District chief Puchong Bhodisuksai says more than 100 shanty houses were destroyed by floodwaters that reached a height of about 13 feet.

"Some of the victims were found eight miles away from the camp, they were swept that far by the strong current," he said.

More than 100 local villagers and aid workers have joined police officers and soldiers in search for the missing, while others are trying to fix the camp's sole access road, destroyed in the flooding.

Puchong says tons of donated food, clothing and medicine cannot be delivered to the camp until the road is repaired.

Forty five of Thailand's 76 provinces have been wracked by floods in the past month, claiming 15 other lives, according to the Civil Disaster Prevention and Protection Centre.