Skyluck
walked her last journey and RIP at Tseung Kwan
O.
On May 14th, 1980, the 2,600 refugee passengers Skyluck vessel
finally walked her last journey – pulled from Lamma Island to Tseung Kwan O and
selected her last resting place.
At about 3 pm PST, Skyluck arrived Tseung Kwan O and began her
dismemberment process by a vessel wrecking company. Parts belong to the vessel
such as air-lift crane, cabins, and life preserve boats all slowly being
detached from her and lay to enjoy the warm sunshine quietly. According to the
wrecking company press, they would complete the task in about 3 months.
The Hong Kong government had been announced in newspaper about selling of
the Skyluck remaining. The wrecking company ended up purchasing her remaining
for about 500 thousand HK dollars. On February 1979, Skyluck arrived Hong Kong
water with her 2,600 illegal Vietnamese refugees on board. At the beginning,
Skyluck was forbidden to land. Until late June of 1979, her reckless passengers
cut the anchor and jumped over board and rushed to shore on Lamma Island in
which stirred the attention of many Hong Kong residences.
After that incident and more resistances from Hong Kong government,
Skyluck refugees were allowed to land and rounded up in Chi-Man-Wan restricted
prisoner camp. About 10 of the passengers were prosecuted by Hong Kong
authority.