Officials in Vietnam say around 450 Vietnamese drug addicts have escaped from a rehabilitation centre where many were held for compulsory treatment.

The detainees reportedly attacked guards, broke down the main gate at the centre, and climbed walls in the country’s southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau.

The director of the provincial labour department, Ms Le Thi Trang Dai, told AFP news agency that police brought 150 patients back while search efforts continued for the nearly 300 others.

According to the state-run VN Express newspaper, the escapees have been begging for clothes from local residents and trying to hitchhike out of the area.

“Others have escaped into (a) nearby deep forest,” the report added.

There are roughly 140,000 drug addicts in Vietnam, where the communist government enforces a compulsory treatment program for them.

Addicts can also voluntarily enter the centres to undergo rehabilitation treatments.

Ms Dai said the escapees were a mix of compulsory and volunteer admissions.

She added that local authorities are urging families to bring back runaway patients so they can complete their treatment.

“Police are also investigating the reasons behind the escape, trying to understand if there is a leader behind the incident,” she said.

Vietnam’s state run rehab centres continue to face criticism by international organisations including the US-based Human Rights Watch group, who calls them “little more than forced labour camps”.

– TiVi Tuan-san