THOUSANDS DIE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25301, 7 September 1945, Page 7

THOUSANDS DIE

SINGAPORE PRISONERS FATE OF AUSTRALIANS DEATHS MAY TOTAL 5000 (Rci'd. 8.10 p.m.) SING A 1*01? K, .Sept. C Tt is estimated, although not substantiated, that of 16,320 members of the Australian Imperial Force taken prisoner in 1912, 5000 have died, says the Australian Associated Press correspondent. A.T.F. records at Changi prison cnmp in the eastern part of Singapore Island, where 4589 Australians were concentrated, provide proof that 2563 hare died since the Eighth Division was captured. The remainder were scattered in camps in Thailand and Malaya and an accurate count of these is not yet possible. Out of the 3489 members of the A.I.F. taken prisoner in the Dutch Indies, 444 have died. Many Australians were among the 5000 drowned when Japanese ships were torpedoed. Conditions Desperate It is understood that conditions are desperate at Palembang. Sumatra, where 70 prisoners, including women and children, died in May. In the C'hangi camp. Singapore, which was built to hold 600, there are 13.000 Australian, .British and Dutch. All except the Australians are crowded three and four in a cell. The Australians are in bamboo palm-thatched huts. There are about 700 hospital cases and many more are suffering from malnutrition and beriberi. The Exchange Telegraph Company's Singapore correspondent quotes a British officer as saying that all the prisoners in the Changi prison camp are either permanently unfit or temporarily unfit. "We have been underfed throughout and for the past srx months on a starvation diet," the officer added._ Eighty per cent of the prisoners on Singapore Island are suffering from chronic relapsing malaria. Many are also suffering from beriberi. Sudden Japanese Change A magical change came over the treatment with the capitulation of the Japanese. Troops who were deplorably underfed on rice and poor vegetables suddenly found themselves eating frozen meat, fish, sugar and butter and smoking cigarettes. The Japanese had released the food stored on the island. The Japanese commander on bingapore reported after the British landing that there were 32.000 prisoners of war and 4500 internees on the island, including 6700 British. Japanese reports disclose that /o,UUU, mostly Netherlander and Australians, are held in prison camps in the Netherlands East Indies and New Britain.