DRAFT PRESS STATEMENT BY GOES
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
The GCBS have discussed with HMG the very
difficult position in which shipowners, Masters and
crews are being placed by following the long-established
traditions of the sea and fulfilling their legal obligations
under Section 6 of the Maritime Conventions Act 1911 by
picking up Vietnamese refugees in distress at sea.
The GCBS fully appreciate the difficulties facing the
Government in this matter and the international action
which the Government is trying to initiate.
But in
the meantime owners, Masters and crews will have the
problem of caring for hundreds of these unfortunate
people on board their vessels for several weeks.
Commercial contracts will be broken and shipping
companies' losses may run into hundreds of thousands
of pounds. The GCBS has represented these points forcibly
to Ministers and trusts that HMG will come to speedy
decisions to take the refugees off their ships.
6/6/79
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