74 Die After Hong Kong Rainstorms

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31085, 14 June 1966, Page 17

74 Die After Hong Kong Rainstorms

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright)

HONG KONG, June 13.

Relief workers toiled all night in Hong Kong to clear main roads after one of Hong Kong’s worst rainstorms had claimed a probable toll of 74 lives and wrecked more than 100 homes.

All schools in the colony were closed today and police advised children to stay home because of landslide dangers. Police said there were 28 known dead, including one Australian, and 46 missing people were presumed dead. Another 33 were injured and 777 people had lost their homes in landslides. Helicopters and firemen had taken more than 700 people to safety in various parts of the colony by midnight, officials said. In 11 hours yesterday, 15 inches of rain fell, and in one hour the heaviest rainfall since 1840 was recorded.

During the night rescuers recovered a man and a boy alive from the debris of a collapsed house, but gave up hope for two women stilt buried there. Police took over the search. A police spokesman said at daybreak that reports from the worst-hit parts of Hong Kong island indicated there had not been any further serious flooding. Bodies Recovered Among bodies recovered so far are those of a British boy and two journalists who worked for the British-owned “South China Morning Post.” Police believe the boy’s body, found in the harbour, is that of 11-year-old Tommy Keenan, son of a British Army sergeant. The boy was

swept away in a torrent in Kowloon. The two journalists are John Stewart, aged 31, a South African who was deputy night editor of the newspaper, and Kevin Murphy, aged 24, a sub-editor, from Melbourne. They were believed to be returning home in a car from work when they were caught in the rains. Their bodies were found on a hillside.