A Hong Kong underwater search team has decided to explore the
wreckage of a Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) vessel torpedoed and
sunk in the East China Sea during World War II.
The non-governmental team, with several popular Hong Kong TV
series and movie stars as members, was sponsored by the Hong Kong
Underwater Association Limited (HKUA) and will try the water for
the ship wreckage on Thursday. The team arrived at Zhoushan on
Wednesday.
"We aim to accurately locate the ship, get details of the vessel
and screen the wreckage," said Curly F.T. Wong, a diving instructor
of the team.
Named Lisbon Maru and armed fore and aft, the ship was a
large cargo vessel with more than 1,800 British POWs on board. It
was torpedoed by an American submarine and sank in the seawaters
near the Dongji Islands of Zhoushan, a city in east China's
Zhejiang Province, on October 2, 1942.
Nearly 200 Chinese fishermen living on the Dongji Islands
rescued 384 British prisoners during the shipwreck.
This is not the first time for the team to come to Zhoushan, as
it has planned to try the water for Lisbon Maru twice in the
last three months. The first trial was made in June but failed due
to bad weather and inadequate equipment. The second was delayed by
the savage typhoon Matsa.
Jackie Lui Chung-yin, a noted Hong Kong TV series star and head
of the team, said: "I'm a fan of diving and have had rich
experience in exploring sunk boats in Malaysia, the Philippines and
the Chinese mainland, but this is the first time that I would probe
into a boat with so many tales to tell."
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2005)