Note No 25
HKK 243 RECEIVED IN REGÍSTRY NO.
0 5 JUN 1978
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
مید
RE
Action Th.
98
firmath of Ministry
The British High Commission present their compliments
of Foreign Affairs and have the honour to draw their attention to
the following matter.
The message
Early on the morning of 18 May the Hong Kong Marine Department
picked up an emergency radio message to all ships from the SS Tong
Cing, a vessel registered in Lingapore and owned by kie Hock
Shipping ite Itd, a company incorporated in Singapore.
asked for help to be given to a liferaft sighted by the ship about
five miles south-east of Hong Kong with "about" 22 people on board.
The Captain claimed to be losing sight of the liferaft in fog. The
SS Tong Sing had left the area by the time the liferaft was rescued
by a Royal Navy patrol boat. It was then discovered that the life-
raft was one from the SS Tong Sing. Interviews with the 22
.༣༣
refugees revealed that they had been picked up from a junk on 15 May
somewhere between Vietnam and Malaysia. The SS Tong Sing was en
route to China and all the refugees were Overseas Chinese from
Vietnam who had no wish to be taken to China. They had therefore
requested the Captain to put them to sea near Hong Kong.
Despite the refugees' own request, the action of the Captain of the
SS Tong Sing in setting them adrift in the open sea exposed them to danger, which could have been avoided if the Captain had kept them
on board until proper landing arrangements could be made for them
at some port of call.
It is recognised that the Captain of the SS Tong Sing acted in the
best traditions of his calling in picking up the refugees in the
first place, but his subsequent decision to set them adrift in the
/open