AIR OUTRAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 August 1938, Page 6

AIR OUTRAGE

ATTACK BY JAPANESE ON PASSENGER PLANE TWO SURVIVORS SERIOUSLY INJURED. EXAMPLE OF INTERNATIONAL' LAWLESSNESS. HONG KONG, August 25. There are now five survivors from the international air liner which was forced down by Japanese warplanes on the Canton delta. Two more have reached Macao so seriously injured as to be unable to state their names. The British gunboat Cicada has located the plane at a depth of 45 feet. It is assumed that it contains the victims. A naval salvage tender is going to the spot. The Chinese newspaper “Takungpao” says that the incident is a direct answer to President Roosevelt’s and Mr Cordell Hull’s speeches condemning international lawlessness. EXCUSES AND DENIAL. A JAPANESE STATEMENT. TOKIO, August 25. The naval spokesman explains that, in the absence of identification marks, the Japanese were unaware that the international air liner was a passenger plane. The machine turned from the Japanese and tried to escape in a cloudbank. When it landed the postal markings were discernible, but all the occupants apparently escaped. He denied that the Japanese deliberately attacked the plane with the intent to kill. It is stated that Japan’s action was justified under the international regulations that non-combatants fly in the zone of hostilities at their own risk.

INFORMATION DESIRED. INQUIRIES BY UNITED STATES. WASHINGTON, August 25. The Secretary of State, Mr Cordell Hull, announced today that he will ask for. full information concerning the Japanese machine-gunning of an allegedly partly American-owned aeroplane in China. JAPANESE WARNING. ALL PLANES IN DANGER. (Recd This Day, 12.30 p.m.) SHANGHAI, August 25. The Japanese spokesman warned all aircraft in the war zone of the risk they were running of being shot down.