CONFIDENTIAL
3.
4.
5.
(c)
There was little evidence of ill health among the refugees who were taken off the ship. Only one had to go to hospital and only five required treatment by a doctor.
21st January, 1979
(a)
(b)
Processing continued from 0830 until 1700 hours and a total of 1047 refugees were taken ashore. Again, very few required medical attention and only three were admitted to hospital.
A notice of formal refusal to land in Hong Kong was served on a representative of the refugees from the ship. The implications of this refusal to land were explained to the refugees as they passed through the immigration checks.
22nd January, 1979
(a)
(b)
(c)
A further 1165 passengers were processed and taken ashore, bringing to 2589 the number of refugees in the camp at Kai Tak. Two more refugees had to be admitted to hospital.
It was estimated that about 700 persons, including the master and crew, remained on board.
The Commandant of the camp at Kai Tak reported that no problems had arisen in the feeding, organisation or discipline of the camp. He estimated the total capacity of the camp to be about 4,000.
23rd January, 1979
(2)
(b)
Processing was completed. The total number of refugees proved to be 3318, of which 3299 were in Kai Tak, 13 in hospital and 6 were being interviewed by the Police.
It was agreed by the Policy Group that the refugees from the ship should continue to be detained until Police questioning had been completed, but that it would not be practical to detain them for an extended period. It was also agreed that they would not be landed in Hong Kong and allowed local resettlement. On 2nd February it was decided that the decanting from Kai Tak of refugees cleared by C.I.D. would commence cn 7th February. They would then become a UNHCR
responsibility.
CONFIDENTIAL
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