6 of 528 Rohingya detainees fleeing immigration depot die in accident

 

Penang police said many of the detainees were rounded up by the locals after they were seen walking along the road shoulder.

PETALING JAYA: A total of 528 Rohingya detainees escaped from the Sungai Bakap temporary immigration depot in Seberang Perai, Penang, early this morning. Six of them, however, died in a road accident while fleeing.

The authorities managed to rearrest 362 of the detainees by 10am.

“The mission to hunt down the rest is ongoing,” immigration department director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said in a statement.

Khairul said the detainees smashed the door and the grill at the depot before fleeing at about 4.30am.

Meanwhile, Penang police chief Shuhaily Mohd Zain said around 6.50am, six of the detainees were killed in a road accident while attempting to cross a nearby highway in their bid to escape the authorities.

“Those killed were two men, two women, a girl and a boy,” he told reporters.

He added that many of the detainees were rounded up by the locals after they were seen walking along the road shoulder as they didn’t dare to cross the road.

Video clips of the detainees are circulating on social media. - FMT