US officials released about 125 passengers on 2 July and allowed them ashore. First to be released was the reporter Ruth Knowles, who had escaped execution by the Gestapo after spending a year serving with the Chetniks resisting the German and Italian occupation of Yugoslavia. By 3 July nearly 700 passengers were still being held aboard. and by 8 July about 400 had been released, but 300 had been detained on Ellis Island until their cases were decided.