FILM SALVAGES WARTIME STORY OF TRAGIC SINKING, HEROIC RESCUES

Documentary sheds light on Chinese fishermen who saved British prisoners of Japan

The cargo vessel Lisbon Maru was converted into a troop carrier by the Japanese army during World War II. In October 1942, while carrying about 1,800 British prisoners of war from Hong Kong to Japan, it was torpedoed by a United States submarine off the coast of East China's Zhejiang province.

The POWs were locked in the holds and left to drown. Some of them managed to escape, but were fired upon by Japanese soldiers. Chinese fishermen heard the incident from the shore and rushed to save 384 British soldiers. The ship sank with the loss of 828 POWs who were either shot or drowned.

Down went the ship, the prisoners and their stories for decades.