KUALA LUMPUR: More than 100 Rohingya refugees escaped a detention centre in Malaysia after a riot broke out, with one man killed after being hit by a vehicle on a highway as he fled, police said on Friday.

The Rohingya experience persecution in their predominantly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar, with many fleeing to affluent, Muslim-majority Malaysia or refugee camps in Bangladesh.

They often endure harrowing, months-long sea journeys to arrive in Malaysia by boat or sneak into the country via its porous border with Thailand.

If caught, they are often sent to detention centres that rights groups say are typically overcrowded and filthy.

A total of 115 Rohingya migrants and 16 others — all of them men — rioted in their detention building before escaping the Bidor temporary immigration depot in northern Perak state late on Thursday, local police chief Mohamad Naim Asnawi said.

Police and officers from other agencies were searching for the missing detainees, Naim added.

He said one refugee believed to be a Rohingya had been killed on a highway after being hit by a passing vehicle in the dark. Police said the cause of the riot and break-out are under investigation.

“We have about 250 officers from the police and immigration department conducting the manhunt,” Naim said, adding that five refugees had been captured.

A photographer at the search area said officers used four-wheel-drive vehicles and motorcycles inside a palm oil plantation to search for the escapees.

One illegal refugee who was caught in the bushes was handcuffed and transported on a motorcycle with a bandage on one leg. The search area also included a nearby forest and streams where the refugees could be hiding, and police have established roadblocks.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2024