‘Operation Yellowbird’ Continues, This Time Helping Hong Kong People Flee An inflatable speedboat, iPhones, and a compass … five young men from Hong Kong, aged 18 to 26, risked their lives to escape to Taiwan by sea in July last year with simple equipment and more than 10 hours’ steering in fear. These are some of the scenes that three of them recently shared with The Wall Street Journal. The three young men are Ray, a 25-year-old warehouse employee; Tommy, a 22-year-old art student; and Kenny, a 26-year-old civil engineer. They told The Wall Street Journal that at the time of their escape from Hong Kong, all three were in hiding, and two of them had been charged by Hong Kong authorities, likely to face years in prison.