 The operation was well-planned, with 425 men of the 1st Parachute Raiding Regiment seizing Palembang airfield, while the paratroopers of the 2nd Parachute Raiding Regiment seized the town and its important oil refinery.However, after the 1st Raiding Regiment departed Japan aboard the transport ship, Meiko Maru bound for Indochina, it suddenly caught fire in the South China Sea sinking near Hainan Island January 3, 1942.All the paratroopers were rescued by the Japanese cruiser Kashii but lost all their equipment and were exhausted and therefore did not partake leaving the operation to the 2nd Parachute Raiding Regiment.