60153-201
CONFIDENTIAL
Pago
of
14895
Classification
MRN
L
Ε.
.6.
encountered by USS Whipple.
Regarding coat departures, we were told that there
are five boats in Que Nhon which will be used for organized
departures in near future. One boat with large number
of refugees is ready for departure from Quang Ngai,
We do not know destination of this or five Que Nhon
: boats. One Cat I refugee told us she received word
from Vietnam that her father is on boat which has left
Nha Trang for Hong Kong. We had previously heard that
!
Nha Trang was being set up for organized departures.
If these accounts are correct, it would appear that
additional boats with mostly Sino-Vietnamese can be
expected, probably for most part in Malaysia.
Hong Kong Govt official provided us following information
which was obtained from source in southern part of
Vietnam. When "Southern Cross" was in Saigon unloading
cargo, captain was contacted by Sino-Vietnamese arranger.
It was agreed that "Southern Cross" would have
engine breakdown just outside of Vietnamese territorial
waters and that shuttle service would then be run
between Vietnamese shore and ship to put 900 refugees
aboard. As often happens with organized departures,
more than 1200 persons were shuttled to "Southern
CONFIDENTIAL Classification
OPTIONAL FORM 153A (Formerly FS-413A)
January 1975 Dept. of State
50153-201