OIL TANKER ATTACKED
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NHA BE (South Vietnam), March 3. Viet Cong gunners pumped heavy fire into a Shell oil tanker moving up a narrow canal to Saigon today in an unsuccessful attempt to block the only heavy shipping route to South Vietnam’s capital.
The barrage of shooting from Viet Cong guerrillas hidden in mangrove swamps on the west side of the canal set the centre hold of the Panamanian registered Paloma ablaze, and it is be-
lieved that 10 men were wounded. Fast action by a United States Navy landing ship tank that steamed back upriver to help the stricken tanker with its fire hoses and 40mm guns blazing, was credited with saving the ship. The Paloma was the third ship attacked by the Viet Cong in the river approaches to Saigon in three months. A Danish freighter was fired upon early in December, and the Panamanian freighter Lorinda was hit on Sunday. United States officers who flew over the Paloma later said the fire was nearly out and that the tanker was being towed upriver to docks at Nha Be, the main oil storage installation in Vietnam.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CV, Issue 31000, 4 March 1966, Page 13
Word Count
191OIL TANKER ATTACKED Press, Volume CV, Issue 31000, 4 March 1966, Page 13
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