GUAM: 5,000 VIETNAMESE REFUGEES ARRIVE IN FIRST SEALIFT EVACUATION.

Record ID: 274855

  • Title: GUAM: 5,000 VIETNAMESE REFUGEES ARRIVE IN FIRST SEALIFT EVACUATION.
  • Date: 7th May 1975
  • Summary: 1. GV refugees off ship 4 ft 2. LV more Vietnamese refugees along gangplank 7 ft 3. SV refugees with families and belongings along pier 17 ft 4. CU barefoot tilt up to refugees walking along pier 22 ft 5. GV wounded refugees carried off ship in stretcher to ambulance (2 shots) 33 ft 6. SV wounded woman in stretcher 36 ft 7.
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 1975 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: APRA HARBOUR, GUAM
  • Country: Guam
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TYX8SWYWK4KAX2JJIHLIBG12
  • Story Text: 5,000 South Vietnamese, mostly Catholic fishing families, arrived in Guam on Wednesday (7 May) in the first wave of seaborne refugees to reach this west Pacific staging base for immigration to the United States.

    Many were barefoot as they swarmed down the gangplank of the U.S. military cargo ship, American Challenger. Those who were injured were carried off in stretchers.

    The American Challenger, which brought the refugees to Guan in a seven-day voyage, was the first of three ships carrying 15,000 South Vietnamese evacuees.

    Many of these who arrived early on wednesday were children with babies on their backs. In the scramble to get on beard the ship, parents were separated from children and families were broken up.

    With 30,000 refugees already housed in hastily-constructed tent cities, facilities will be stretched to the limit on the 42-square-mile (105 square km) island of Guam.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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