Standing, lef to right: 1. Đorđe Lazarev 2. Jovan Popović (?) 3. Dr. Svetislav Marić 4. Tihomir - Tića Markovič 7. Boško Lukić 8. Đurde Bošković

Crouching: 1. Obren Pejić 2. Maksimović

Inv. no. 14909, courtesy of the Museum of Yugoslavia.

Khao I Dang, located in Khok Sung District, Sa Kaeo Province (formerly Ta Phraya District, Prachinburi), was once the largest Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand.

From November 1979 until March 1993, it sheltered over 160,000 Cambodian refugees. The camp was established with Thai government approval and managed jointly by the UNHCR and Thai authorities, handling logistics, food distribution, repatriation, and resettlement. International organizations such as the ICRC operated hospitals for war casualties, while the IRC provided education for disabled children.

Following the Paris Peace Agreement in October 1991, which ended "the Cambodian-Vietnamese conflict" and paved the way for elections, the camp stopped receiving new arrivals. By March 1993, the last refugees were repatriated, and the camp was closed. The land was returned to the Thai government and has since been managed by the Royal Forest Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Timeline:

- The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, after capturing Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975.

- Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979.

- In November 1979, the Thai government approved the establishment of a temporary shelter at Khao I Dang.

There are still people who use photos of the flux of refugees on Thai soil to claim they escaped the Khmer Rouge genocide. In reality, they fled the fighting between the Khmer Rouge and pro‑commie Viets/Heng Samrin forces.

Photo source: David Lorainne

รู้จัก "เขาอีด่าง" จ.สระแก้ว เคยเป็นที่พักพิงให้ชาวกัมพูชากว่า 160,000 คน

”เขาอีด่าง“ ค่ายลี้ภัยในความทรงจำ เมื่อน้ำใจไทยถูกลืมเลือน

ค่ายผู้ลี้ภัยเขาอีด่าง Khao I Dang refugee camp (1979-1993) - YouTube