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Appendix I
Colonial Office Statement on the Loss of the Air-India aircraft "Kashmir Princess"
issued on 11 January 1956.
Consequent upon the loss of the Air-India aircraft Kashmir Princess on April 11, 1955 on a flight between Hong Kong and Djakarta, and upon allegations that the crash had been the direct result of an act of sabotage, intensive enquiries were instituted by the Hong Kong Government.
These included the interrogation and enquiry into the antecedents of 71 persons connected in one way or another with the servicing of the aircraft during its stay of just over one hour in Hong Kong.
By mid-May the investigations carried out by the Indonesian Committee of Enquiry, including examination of the wreckage of the aircraft, had led to a strong suspicion that the crash was due to an explosion caused by the detonation of an explosive device lodged inside the starboard wing at the rear outboard corner of the wheelbay. This was confirmed in the Indonesian Government's statement issued on May 27.
Among the 27 persons whose duties took them in the vicinity of the starboard wing of the aircraft and whose activities were consequently under inquiry was Chow Tse Ming, alias Chou Chu, an employee of the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Direct suspicion did not fall on him until May 18. Enquiries at his address on that day failed to find him and information was subsequently obtained that some hours before these enquiries were made he had stowed away on a Civil Air Transport aircraft and had arrived in Taipei, Formosa, on the same day.
In the course of the subsequent Police investigation of persons who had been associated with Chow Tse Ming before his departure for Formosa, evidence came to light to suggest that he had been procured by persons connected with a Kuomintang Intelligence Organization and had been offered a reward. There was also evidence that on four separate