WORLD : Viet Women Murdered at Sea

BANGKOK, Thailand — The bodies of 11 young Vietnamese women, brutally murdered at sea, washed ashore in southern Thailand, Thai police said today.

The bodies, some naked and others only in pants, were strung together with nylon rope. The rope, twisted round the necks of some of the women, suggested they were dragged behind a boat before being cut loose into the sea, police said.

“We know they were Vietnamese because we found Vietnamese currency,” a police officer in Nakorn Si Thammarat province said.

It was impossible to tell whether the women had been raped because the bodies had started to decompose, he said.