FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM

An undocumented Burmese migrant was hit and killed by a car during an escape from an immigration detention center in Bidor, Malaysia – 84 miles (136 kms) north of Kuala Lumpur – on Feb. 1, Reuters reported. 

Malaysia’s Immigration Department Director-General Ruslin Jusoh said on Feb. 2 that the individual had escaped with 130 other Burma nationals and search operations are ongoing for the remaining escapees. Of them, 115 are Rohingya refugees and 16 are of other ethnicities. 

Al Jazeera reported that 88 percent of the 185,300 registered refugees with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are Burma nationals. At least 107,670 of them are Rohingya. Malaysia does not recognize refugees and instead considers them as undocumented immigrants.