SOUTH VIETNAM: I.C.C.S. OFFICERS BEGIN INVESTIGATION OF FATAL BOMBING OF SCHOOL.

Record ID: 230459

  • Title: SOUTH VIETNAM: I.C.C.S. OFFICERS BEGIN INVESTIGATION OF FATAL BOMBING OF SCHOOL.
  • Date: 31st March 1974
  • Summary: 1. GV jeeps with ICCS Officers arriving in Cai Lay (2 shots) 0.10 2. SV Child watches Officers arriving 0.16 3. SV ZOOM IN CU war poster showing corpses 0.21 4. SV ICCS Jeeps driving through town 0.29 5. SV Soldier in street 0.34 6. SV More ICCS jeeps in town 0.38 7. CU Signals to ICCS jeeps (2 shots) soldier 0.53 8. SV Woman and children watching 0.56 9. GV School children walking through street (2 shots) 1.04 10. SV GV ICCS helicopter officers boarding 1.10 11. GV Helicopter takes off 1.20 Initials AE/3.35 AE3.50 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th April 1974 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAI LAY: SOUTH VIETNAM
  • Country: Vietnam
  • Reuters ID: LVABDLROE2SSYN7DYW9LX9555RXS
  • Story Text: Officers of the Interfactional Control Commission (ICCS) flew to the South Vietnamese town of Cai Lay on Saturday (30 March) to investigate the fatal mortar shelling of a primary school earlier this month.

    The officers -- from Hungary, Indonesia, Iran and Poland -- were making their first full investigation of a ceasefire violation in five months. The investigation was requested by both the North and South Vietnamese governments, which accused each other of the mortar attack.

    One hundred children were killed or wounded, and three adults injured, when a single 82 milimetre mortar shell hit the school playground on 9 March. The children--aged from five to eleven--were lining up to go into their classrooms at the time.

    The shelling led South vietnamese military negotiators to boycott a scheduled meting with the Viet cong.

    The ICCS officers flew by helicopter to the Mekong Delta city of My The then on to Cai Lay, 45 miles (65 kilometres) southwest of Saigon.

    The fact that both North and South Vietnam requested the investigation allowed the ICCS officers to bypass compex procedural problems which have prevented them from making any serious investigations for months.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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