Hundreds of Malawian citizens, including children, were reportedly chased from their homes and forced to stay in an open field in Durban amid anti-immigration attacks in South Africa.

The foreign nationals were seen lined up outside Sherwood Hall on Friday, awaiting repatriation amid a wave of protests targeted at foreigners and their businesses, particularly in the Western Cape and Durban areas.

Several Malawians, who spoke to Al Jazeera, narrated their ordeals amid the attacks, noting the only option for them was to leave the country.

“It’s hard to stay here. You can see we are outside. How can we stay in this cold? Our children can get sick,” a Malawian national, Falesi Chukuwumba, said.

Another Malawian, Sayiba John, 33, said she fled who Nazareth township with her husband and three children, adding her daughter was forced to abandon exams.

“They said we must go. We have no choice in the matter,” Mrs John said. “It’s better our government take us away from here than to face the anger of the South Africans,” Mrs John said.

The development came amid widespread xenophobic attacks in the country, which left several foreigners, including Nigerians, killed and others fatally wounded.

The Malawian government, on Tuesday, announced that a group of 171 Malawians repatriated from South Africa amid growing worries about xenophobia had arrived in their home country.

Several nationals from Nigeria, Ghana and Mozambique, had also been voluntarily repatriated from the rainbow country.