25 P.O.W. Died Daily In Bangkok Camps

Northern Advocate, 5 September 1945, Page 5

25 P.O.W. Died Daily In Bangkok Camps

(Rec. 1.0 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 4. Deaths among Allied prisoners in Bangkok camps before the arrival of medical aid averaged 25 daily, says the Associated Press correspondent at Kandy. The majority of the prisoners so far contacted or evacuated by South East Asia Command Headquarters are suffering from some disease or malnutrition. Reports from Singapore indicate that beriberi, malaria, tuberculosis and several types of dysentery are prevalent. According to information reaching South East . Asia Command headquarters, the Japanese, shortly before the end of the war, when it became obvious that they had lost, began concentrating prisoners of war at main centres, inaugurating a programme of better treatment. South East Asia Command reports that 330 Indian prisoners of war have so far arrived from Bangkok. Conditions in camps in Siam were improving satisfactorily, due to the wholehearted efforts of British medical personnel, some of whom landed by parachute. The All-India Radio says the Allies ordered the Japanese authorities in Java to report the location and size of all hospitals and medical equipment stores available. Hospitals ‘would be used for treating the sick among released prisoners of war and internees. The Japanese reported that there were at present 6100 Allied prisoners in Java, the majority of whom were at Batavia and Bandoeng. Medical attention was already being given to all sick \prisoners.