18 ‘Boat Brides’ Between Devil and Deep Blue Sea as Junks Burn
A legal quirk left 18 women trapped on damaged and leaking boats or ducking immigration authorities after a fire swept through Hong Kong’s crowded Aberdeen harbor, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The women are among about 850 “boat brides”--Chinese nationals, most of them from coastal villages, who are married to Hong Kong fishermen and are allowed to live on their boats but not to come ashore in the British colony without special permission.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Fishermen’s Assn. said 18 “boat brides” either are living ashore illegally or are trapped on boats damaged in the Dec. 26 fire that destroyed more than 150 tightly packed wooden junks and left 1,700 people homeless.
‘Living in Fear’
“Their husbands told us they are living in fear,” a spokesman told one local newspaper. “But what can they do but stay with friends on land when their boats were burned and there are no other boats to turn to?”
Government spokesman Akber Khan said none of the “boat brides” had reported to the Immigration Department, but if any do, their cases will be handled on an individual basis.
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