WORLD : Ship Changes Course, Gives Aid
Vietnamese boat people were rescued by the U.S. Navy vessel whose former captain was punished for not picking up refugees who later resorted to cannibalizing dead shipmates, officials said today.
A U.S. Embassy official said the Dubuque, an amphibious transport ship, brought 30 Vietnamese into Singapore on Monday after rescuing them from a wooden boat in the South China Sea early Sunday.
The Dubuque, now commanded by Capt. D. L. Wetherwell, was permitted to put the refugees ashore on the embassy’s guarantee that the Vietnamese would be resettled in another country within 90 days, the U.S. official said.
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