Kuala Lumpur - A Vietnamese man was killed and two others were seriously injured during a fight at a party held in a workers' hostel in the central state of Malacca, a news report said Saturday. The victim, a 23-year old factory worker, was among the 710 foreign workershoused in the hostel for workers of a nearby cloth-making factory, the Star daily reported.
The workers included 356 Bangladeshis, 331 Vietnamese and 23 Indonesians.
Segregated according to their nationalities in separate two-storey blocks, the Vietnamese workers were believed to have held a party on the first floor in anticipation of the Chinese New Year Wednesday night, said state Criminal Investigation Division chief R Gunarajan.
A misunderstanding was believed to have occurred, resulting in a fight where the victim was stabbed several times in the abdomen and two others were injured.
"We have reason to believe they were drunk when the fight started because we found many beer cans and alcohol bottles in the rooms," said Gunarajan.
The stab victim was brought to the state hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The hostel caretaker, who declined to be named, said fights during alcohol-fuelled parties amongst the hostel residents were common occurrences but added that they rarely resulted in serious injuries.
Police have detained 13 people for questioning and are investigating not only the murder but also the rioting.
