Bangkok - The driver of a cold-storage truck in which 54 Myanmar labourers suffocated to death last week has surrendered to Thai police, media reports said Wednesday.

Suchon Bunplong, 38, fearful of the human-trafficking ring that had hired him on April 9 to transport 121 illegal Myanmar labourers a week ago from Ranong province to Phuket, surrendered himself to authorities Tuesday, said the Bangkok Post.

"He confessed and named members of the trafficking network. Arrest warrants will be issued for them," Region 8 Police Bureau chief Lieutenant-General Thani Tawitsri told the newspaper.

Suchon told police that he had been paid 80,000 baht (2,540 dollars) to pick up the Burmese at Choke Charoen fishing pier in Ranong and drive them to Phuket.

En route to Phuket, 54 of the Burmese died of suffocation. Suchon, who had heard the Burmese banging on the truck's walls, finally pulled over and parked on a deserted side road.

When fled after discovering that some of the Burmese had died.

Police on Tuesday arrested Jirawat Sophapanworagul, owner of Choke Charoen pier.

The case has drawn international attention to Thailand's poor performance in stopping human-trafficking. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has said that the tragedy highlights the flaws of Thailand's foreign worker programme.

There are an estimated 2 million migrant workers in the country, primarily from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

For the last decade, Thailand has been granting work certificates to Burmese, Cambodian and Lao labourers, but the programme has failed to cover all the migrants and provides little protection from unscrupulous employers, even for workers with certificates. (dpa)