No Inquiry Yet
p. 111 · Read in the full issue
On "Lakemba"
Hong Kong marine authorities had made no moves by late February to start an inquiry into the loss of the 7,500ton passenger-freighter Lakemba, which sank after hitting a reef off Vatulele, Fiji, last October (. PIM , Oct., 1967, p. 23).
The Lakemba was the last of the W. R. Carpenter trans-Pacific ships and was on her last voyage when she came to grief.
Fiji marine authorities decided not to hold a formal inquiry on the ground that the ship was registered in Hong Kong.
However, these authorities made informal inquiries into the disaster—the details of which have not been made public— and sent the relevant documents to Hong Kong late last year.
Fiji’s Minister for Com munications, Mr. Charles Stinson, said at the time that “should the evidence indicate that a useful purpose would be served by further investigation, the Hong Kong Government can be relied upon to hold an inquiry. . . .”
A spokesman for the Lakemba’s former Sydney agents, apparently reluctant to get involved at this stage, told PIM in late February that he knew of no inquiry being made in Hong Kong.