About 500 Myanmar nationals swam the last 500 metres to enter Malaysia illegally at the end of a 15-day boat journey at the weekend, leaving one dead, police said Tuesday.

Police told AFP they had so far found 482 people, including the captain of the 30-metre vessel, since Sunday and are looking for a “handful” more still hiding out on the northwestern island of Langkawi in the Malacca Straits. They are believed to be one of the largest groups of Rohingya Muslims to have reached Malaysia this year after fleeing sectarian violence at home.

Police said the immigrants claimed to have paid $300 each to an agent in troubled Rakhine for the trip, which media reports said left most of them ill with some requiring hospital care.