An international naval incident occurred on the high seas 110 kilometers off Haifa Friday night, when two Egyptian warships forcibly stopped and searched the Israel-bound British freighter “Richard Borchard,” commanded by a British captain, it became known today when the ship landed here.
The same two Egyptian vessels, it was reported, later shelled the Tel Aviv coastal area. They were identified as a Corvette and a large minesweeper and were flying a black and blue flag with a circle, which, being of unregistered nationality, were disregarded by the Borchard on being challenged.
The Egyptians fired across the Borchard’s bows and she stopped. The boarding party consisted of an English-speaking officer and Arabic-speaking sailors. They searched the Borchard for “contraband goods” bound for Israel. The Borchard’s captain signalled to British Navy vessels in those waters. However, the Egyptians soon left on discovering that the cargo was only food.
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