Thailand OKs US flights to locate migrant boats: Deputy PM

Thailand will allow the United States to fly surveillance planes from its territory to identify boats carrying migrants adrift in Southeast Asian seas, the country`s deputy prime minister said on Friday.

Bangkok: Thailand will allow the United States to fly surveillance planes from its territory to identify boats carrying migrants adrift in Southeast Asian seas, the country`s deputy prime minister said on Friday.

US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard had said earlier that the United States had made a request to fly such missions, as an intergovernmental meeting on the regional migrant crisis got under way in Bangkok.

"Yes, we are permitting it, it is starting today," Thailand`s Deputy Prime Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting.

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