Police search for woman who escaped Panama hotel where US deportees are being held

Zheng Lijuan fled Panama City hotel as 170 of deported migrants were transported to dense, lawless region

Police are searching for a Chinese woman who escaped from a downtown Panama City hotel where she was being held following her deportation from the US under Donald Trump's intensified campaign against immigrants.

Zheng Lijuan was one of 299 migrants - from China, Afghanistan, Iran and other countries with which the US lacks extradition agreements - who have been flown in shackles to Panama since last Wednesday. Panamanian authorities say they believe that Zheng was aided by locals who had been prowling" outside the Decapolis hotel in the capital city where the deportees had been held.