Vincennes Rescues 26 Viet Refugees

The U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes, which mistakenly shot down an Iranian airliner two months ago, rescued 26 Vietnamese refugees from a sinking junk in the South China Sea on Thursday, the Pentagon said.

Defense Department spokesman Dan Howard told reporters that the Vincennes, steaming toward the Philippines after leaving the Persian Gulf two weeks ago, came across the “unseaworthy” junk Thursday. Capt. Will C. Rogers III ordered the 10 men, 6 women and 10 children brought aboard. The junk sank shortly afterward in heavy seas, Howard said.

On July 3, the Vincennes mistook an Iran Air A-300 Airbus for an Iranian warplane and shot down the airliner in the gulf, killing all 290 passengers and crew members.

In August, the Navy charged Capt. Alexander Balian of the transport vessel Dubuque with dereliction of duty for failing to rescue a boatload of Vietnamese refugees who said they later resorted to cannibalism.