Three of the wounded, including the master, were reported to be in serious condition.

The Hong Kong-owned Lorinda, with a mixed crew of 42 Chinese and South Vietnamese on board, was sailing from Hong Kong to Saigon.

The Viet Cong levelled a blistering barrage of armour-piercing anti-tank shells at the freighter for half an hour until jet bombers forced them to retreat from the river banks.

There were six gaping holes in the ship's port side just above the waterline, and four more in the superstructure.

Naval sources in Saigon said it appeared the guerillas were trying to sink the freighter and block the shallow channel leading 65km from the South China Sea to Saigon port.

Sources said blocking the river would make the capital solely reliant on air supply and considerably disrupt the war effort against the Viet Cong.

Meanwhile, World-Wide (Shipping) was making inquiries in China about the fate of the Hong Kong freighter Marine Bounty, reported to have been grounded off the Fukien coast. Under charter to a Japanese concern, the 6,600-tonne freighter was bound for Singapore and Chittagong from Japan when it went aground a week earlier.

A government spokesman confirmed that Chinese travelling from Hong Kong to the Philippines would no longer be required to give their thumbprints to the Filipino authorities.

The spokesman said a system had been arranged whereby Hong Kong authorities would confirm the identity of a visa applicant.

The director of immigration told the Philippine foreign secretary that the requirement for all Chinese nationals and those of Chinese ancestry to put their thumb marks on the back of their photos when applying for visas was condemned as discriminatory because it did not apply to other travellers to the Philippines.

Indonesian tanks, armoured cars and troops blocked all roads leading to President Sukarno's palace, as highly reliable sources described the atmosphere in Jakarta as 'explosive'.

The sources said helicopters patrolled the city all day, checking to see if student groups were gathering in defiance of the president's ban on demonstrations.

The 150,000-strong Muslim Students Union was reported to have pledged its support for the outlawed anti-communist, pro-army students' organisation, Kami, which staged recent demonstrations protesting against the president's dismissal of the defence minister.

A 9pm to 6am curfew was in force across the capital.

The first Apollo moon ship blasted off from Cape Kennedy in an unmanned test of the new space vehicle.

The giant Saturn 1-B rocket, the biggest booster in the American space arsenal, lifted off after earlier launching troubles.

The moon ship successfully rocketed over a 8,530km ballistic course and parachuted to a pre-designated landing site in the South Atlantic, where recovery craft raced to retrieve it.

A Hong Kong-built yawl won the title of Queen of the Washington DC International Boat and Sports Show.

Built by Cheoy Lee Shipyard, the 12.5-metre Rhodes Reliant-type was the first foreign craft ever awarded the title at the show, one of the most important in the United States.

A spokesman for the company said they had sold 30 of the type of yacht to the United States and six to England and France the previous year.

Cheoy Lee Shipyard's Rhodes Reliant had a fibreglass hull, teak deck, three cabins and was equipped with a Perkins diesel auxiliary engine.

Jack Bausfield, a professional big game hunter, was in hospital in Johannesburg with multiple injuries after being sat on - by a baby elephant.

The hunter from Bechuanaland was capturing baby elephants for Johannesburg Zoo when one of them sat on him.