The Panamanian steamer Rim, bound for Palestine with 450 Jewish refugees on board, caught fire yesterday near the Island of Rhodes, dispatches reaching here today said. The refugees, who had embarked June 26 at the Black Sea port of Constanza, were safely transferred to the Italian steamer Fiume and landed at the port of Rhodes.
Departure of the Rim from Constanza was marked by the attempted suicide by 40 of a group of 140 refugees who were in despair at having been left behind. (A J.T.A. Paris dispatch said the passengers, estimated at 800, had cabled an appeal to the Paris office of the Joint Distribution Committee for food and clothing. The message contained no details and J.D.C. officials said they were trying to contact the Jewish community at Rhodes through the Milan, Italy, Jewish Relief Committee.)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.