KANCHANABURI, Thailand (AP) 鈥� A depot on World War II鈥檚 infamous 鈥淒eath Railway鈥� has resurfaced from beneath a reservoir where the site has remained underwater for decades, prompting researchers to race to western Thailand to survey the remnants of Nithe Station.
Thousands of Allied prisoners of war and Asian laborers toiled and died building the railway, a supply route through mainland Southeast Asia for the occupying Japanese forces.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand recently drained the reservoir at Vajiralongkorn Dam for maintenance, revealing the station. Historians are seizing the uncommon opportunity to further study the site in Kanchanaburi province for artifacts and to verify details.
But time is limited, as the completion of the dam鈥檚 maintenance in August and Southeast Asia鈥檚 rainy season may begin refilling the reservoir.
Nithe was a major station along the 415-kilometer (257-mile) railway that connected Thailand, known at the time as Siam, with Myanmar, known then as Burma.
The railway was built by about 60,000 Allied POWs mainly from Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Indonesia, known then as the Dutch East Indies, as well as hundreds of thousands of Asian laborers, whom the Japanese called r枚musha.
More than 12,500 of the POWs and 75,000 laborers died during construction, which inspired the widely used nickname 鈥淭he Death Railway.鈥�
The railway was featured in the classic 1957 film 鈥淭he Bridge on the River Kwai鈥� and the 2013 movie 鈥淭he Railway Man.鈥� It also was the focus of the award-winning novel 鈥淭he Narrow Road to the Deep North,鈥� which became a starring Australian actor Jacob Elordi.
Resurfaced station presents unique chance
Independent Australian researcher Martyn Fryer flew from Perth to see the site. His grandfather died as a POW working on the railway after his 1942 capture in Singapore.
He stomped through muddy bogs in sweltering 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) heat to 鈥渦nderstand what those lads went through and to appreciate the country and the terrain that they endured.鈥�
Fryer, who wrote a book about his grandfather鈥檚 regiment, titled 鈥淔rom the Woodlands to the Jungle,鈥� scanned historic railway embankments with a metal detector. He found iron dog spikes, bridge staples and other war artifacts.
鈥淚鈥檝e been to Nithe Station three times in the past, but the water level has always been too high to actually really appreciate the fantastic offerings that it has with the remaining infrastructure and the layout of the railway itself,鈥� Fryer said.
To locate POW camps in the area, Fryer compared wartime aerial photographs of Nithe from the National Archives in London with hand-charted maps brought by Andrew Snow, a researcher with the .
Like Fryer’s grandfather, Snow’s father was captured in Singapore and forced to work on the railway.
Southeast Asia’s dry season often exposes bits of the station. But the water levels hit a new low this year and drained so quickly that vegetation has not yet regrown, making Nithe easier to study, Snow explained.
鈥淚t is a good opportunity for us to do some surveying,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e dealing with relatives of people that worked on the railway, it鈥檚 always nice to be able to show them the areas that maybe their relative worked on.鈥�
Hundreds of Thai visitors have traveled to the area to see the 鈥渞are incident,鈥� said Kitti Laokham, a 47-year-old local resident whose posts of Nithe have racked up 32 million views on social media.
Channarong Noimala saw the videos online and motorbiked 350 kilometers (217 miles) northwest from Bangkok to see the exposed station.
鈥淎t least for those who died here, no matter whether they are laborers or prisoners of war, we can remember them,鈥� Noimala said.
War history preservation continues
About 100 kilometers (60 miles) of winding mountain roads southwest of Nithe is Hellfire Pass, a brutal section of mountain where hundreds of POWs died.
The Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre, funded by the Australian government, received a record-breaking 169,000 visitors last year, which also marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
鈥淎s time passes, places like Hellfire Pass become even more important,鈥� said Mick Clarke, an Australian Army veteran who manages the center. 鈥淭hey keep personal stories alive and help future generations understand the cost of war.鈥�
Around 22,000 Australians became POWs during the war and about 13,000 worked on the railway, with 2,800 dying during construction, according to Australia鈥檚 Department of Veterans鈥� Affairs.
鈥淔or many Australians, Hellfire Pass is deeply personal,鈥� Clarke said. 鈥淚t connects families and the nation to a difficult but important chapter of wartime history.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Ladawan Sondak contributed to this report.
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