Refugees tell of massacre at sea

Press, 29 March 1980, Page 8

Refugees tell of massacre at sea

NZPA Reuter Kuala Lumpur

i Thai pirates used hooks, knives and rakes to kill VietInamese refugees, including children, who tried to get aboard the priates’ ship after the marauders sank the refugees’ wooden boat, 16 survivors have said in, Kuala Lumpur.'. ,' ■" ' ■ '. ' They said 5T .’people,,., inincluding a 13-year-old girl {they identified as. an Ameri-. can were missing after the pirates capsized the boat. Most were feared drowned or killed by the pirates, and the others, mostly women, were believed to have been kidnapped and raped. ; The , pirates plucked . the .- women from the ‘ Malaysian waters . of, the South China Sea;, and killed the men and some children- swimming or clinging to jerricans. Even a two-year-old boy was clubbed, according to the survivors’, < . . < -

The survivors gave this account.

-/The:incident took place on Monday about 300 km . north-

east of Kuala Lumpur and only a short distance from the refugee camp on Pulau Bidong,- where some 12,000 Vietnamese refugees are housed.

Among those reported missing was a 13-year-old American identified only as Linda. She was reported to havecome from .the Cantho area of southern Vietnam.' Officials could not explain -..why she .was on board or give other details. ■ The survivors told refugee officials that the 73 refugees —Vietnamese ' and ethnic Chinese -—' had left Camau, in southern Vietnam last Saturday. - ■pie refugee boat was stopped on Monday afternoon by a Thai boat witfithine pirates aboard — seven men, a woman, and a teenager who was shaved bald. Three of the Thais boarded the refugee boat armed with a hook, g rake, and a knife. Oneiof the Thais grabbed a-.refugee and another stole his watch. But the refussa managed -ts push. one

of the Thais overboard, and: other threw petrol-: bombs at the Thai boat. • The pirate 'vessel-. pulled away, and the Thais stranded on the refugee boat jumped into the sea and swam away. : The refugee boat continued on its --way towards Malaysia, the-Thai boat in pursuit. In the evenihg a second Thai vessel with • about eight people ..aboard- joined the chase.

Late oh Monday one of the Thai boats rammed the refugee vessel, causing it to break apart and spill the refugees into the sea. Most of the refugees tried to save themselves by getting on board the .first Thai boat. The Thais, struck the men with their weapons, pulled-im the women-and a' jfew children, while allowing the others to drown. Two of the survivors swam ashore. The other 14 were 1 picked up by Milaysian fishing boats up to 12 hours after their vessel had capsized.

All 16 survivors were taken to Malaysian .hospitals, -