Vietnamese Hong Kong

In a desperate attempt to avoid being forced to return to their native land, as many as 200 Vietnamese asylum-seekers broke out of a Hong Kong detention center early today and fled into the hills after setting some of the camp's buildings on fire. The well-organized escape began before dawn as groups of migrants, mostly men, cut at least six holes in the wire-mesh fences, police said.

Authorities transferred 549 Vietnamese refugees to a Hong Kong prison Wednesday pending deportation, denying allegations that the jail would be dangerously overcrowded. "The management of Victoria Prison can actually comfortably accommodate that," Dickie Chan, chief superintendent for prisons, told government radio. "For example, if a cell usually has one fiberglass bed, in order to accommodate them, we will put a double-tier bunk there."