The World - News from July 4, 1986

The number of Vietnamese refugees sailing in decrepit boats through the South China Sea to Hong Kong has risen sharply, and officials said they could not explain the dramatic increase. Government figures showed 337 refugees arrived in Hong Kong last month compared with just 83 in June, 1985. A total of 1,134 boat people have sought refuge in the British colony since January--more than in all of last year. “There is nothing in particular happening in Vietnam or we could have expected a general increase in the region,” the local representative of t Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee, Fazlul Karim, said.