ON THIS day 25 years ago: Staff of the Roads and Drainage Division of the Public Works Department were on standby duty throughout the night to deal with landslides and floods resulting from continuous rain.
A total of 97 mm of rain was recorded for the day. The heaviest fall of 61 mm was recorded between 1 pm and 3 pm. With the previous day's 110 mm, rainfall for the two days totalled 207 mm.
The heavy downpour caused seven minor landslides, mostly in the Mid-Levels, while floods were reported at Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen and Tsuen Wan, disrupting traffic in various parts of the territory. THE Marine Court of Inquiry into the disappearance of a Hongkong ship, the Tong Hong, was adjourned in order to obtain further information from the ship's agents in Japan.
With a cargo of fertiliser and a crew of 38, the Tong Hong, which belonged to the Kie Hock Shipping Company, disappeared after setting sail from Kawasaki, Japan, on October 25, 1967, on a voyage to Singapore.
Tay Beng-chuan, a director of the Kie Hock Shipping Company in Singapore, said the master of the Tong Hong had sailed in the China Sea on many occasions when he was in command of the company's other ships.
He said the reply he received from the Kawasaki agents, Hap Thye Co, about the ship's disappearance, was that the ship had not been heard from since it left Kawasaki.