Yangon, Jan 3 (IANS): A Death Railway Museum, located in Myanmar's Kayin state, is going to showcase the life of prisoners of war who died during railway construction, officials reported Sunday.

The museum, originally scheduled to be inaugurated in April, will instead open on Monday, to coincide with the country's Independence Day, Xinhua news agency reported.

The museum will exhibit historic photos, paintings, sculptures and 3D images related to the "death railway". It also highlights a coal-fired C-0522 engine, which was used on the death railway, and a memorial place where the railway line originated.

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army forced more than 120,000 Allied prisoners of war and labourers from Southeast Asia to build the railway linking Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar and Kanchanaburi in Thailand.

More than 16,000 prisoners of war died during the construction of the railway. Several thousands who died were buried at the Thanbyuzayat graveyard.

With little or no medical care, the prisoners succumbed to sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion and died in horrible conditions.