Vietnamese tried to crush refugee boats-embassy
NZPA-Reuter Bonn The West German Government has protested sharply to Hanoi about an incident on Friday in which Vietnamese naval vessels opened fire on two West German ships attempting to rescue refugees from an oil rig off Vietnam. The German Foreign Ministry said that the Vietnamese Ambassador in Bonn (Mr Nguyen Manh Cam) had been called to the Ministry and given a strong protest to transmit to his Government.
The Ministry said Bonn’s Ambassador in Hanoi had also been ordered to protest to the Vietnamese against the “illegal act.”
Vietnamese naval vessels opened fire as the West German ships Nordertor and Alexanderturm tried to take off about 300 Vietnamese refugees on an oil rig off southern Vietnam. But the Alexanderturm’s owners said the Vietnamese had fired only warning shots and none had been aimed to hit.
They said the Alexanderturm, which had been arrested was being held in Vung Tau, 50km south-east of Ho Chi Minh City. The captain and crew of nine were safe. The West German Foreign Ministry said the incident had occurred outside Vietnamese territorial waters.
The West German Embassy in Singapore said the ships had intended to take the refugees to Singapore after they had sought safety on an oil rig run by the West German Deminex oil company.
But several Vietnamese naval vessels had appeared as the German ships had been towing the refugees away in boats and had ordered the tows to be cut.
When the German ships had failed to comply immediately, the Vietnamese vessels had fired a number of shots and had also tried to crush the refugee boats, the embassy said. The captains of the German ships had no recourse but to cut the tows.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19790702.2.81
Bibliographic details
Press, 2 July 1979, Page 8
Word Count
290Vietnamese tried to crush refugee boats-embassy Press, 2 July 1979, Page 8
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.