British troops throughout Southern Palestine were today searching for visaless Jewish immigrants who escaped into the interior from a blockade runner which was beached on the coast near Gaza during the night. Unconfirmed reports said that one British naval officer and two seesaw lost their lives when a naval launch capsized while trying to board the ship.
Originally the refugee vasel, the 400-ton Susanna, carried about 800 Jews. When it was beached about 600 of them climbed over the side and scattered through the countryside. They were aided by local Jewish settlers who arrived in buses and automobiles. However, most of them were rounded up by police and soldiers assisted by local Arab tribesmen. About 200 passengers, mostly sick, aged and pregnant women, were still aboard the vessel when it was discovered shortly after the sun rose. The ship sailed from an Italian port early last week.
Of the 800 immigrants only about 550 left Italy. The remainder were picked up while the Susanna was on route to Rhodes. Most of the passengers came originally from Poland where a number of them had survived the rigors of life in the Lodz Ghetto. Others among them came from Hungary and Germany, where they had recently returned from Nazi death camps. Despite overcrowd conditions on the ship, most of them were in good physical condition.
All Jewish settlements in the area were cordoned off and a curfew was imposed in the coastal strip. A number of villages, including Kibbutz Nizzanim, were searched by the military. The operation was directed by R.A.F. planes which circled overheard.
A government spokesman declared that the apprehended immigrants would be transferred to Haifa in military trucks today and deported to Cyprus late tonight. Special precautions were taken to guard the roads over which the convoy would travel to prevent a possible attempt to liberate the prisoners.
A report received here from Cyprus states that any attempt to raise the statutory limit of 10,000 Jewish internees on the island will meet stiff opposition from the civil authorities. There are now 10,390 visaless Jewish immigrants detained in camps on the island.
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