A group of 1,476 returnees arrived by ship near Yangon on Sunday, the first of the 5,000 Myanmar agreed to take back from Malaysia amid rising anti-migrant sentiment. (Bernama pic)

YANGON: Myanmar has repatriated nearly 10,000 migrants from Malaysia this year, state media said on Monday, a day after a flotilla returning almost 1,500 of its citizens docked in the country.

The UN has sharply criticised Malaysia's push to return migrants to Myanmar under an opaque scheme it says cannot guarantee safe homecomings to the war-torn nation.

A group of 1,476 returnees arrived by ship outside Yangon on Sunday, the first of 5,000 that Kuala Lumpur says Myanmar agreed to take back amid a wave of anti-migrant sentiment in Malaysia.