Posted on: Friday, April 12, 2002

Tanker's rescued crew missing since April 3

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

The strange sea story of Insiko 1907 became stranger still yesterday.

The Indonesian tanker — which was thought lost — may have been found.

Forgea, the 40-pound dog that has become the focus of international attention among animal lovers, could be alive on the ship.

And the crew that was rescued from the ship April 2 are missing and have been declared fugitives.

While the rescued crew of the crippled Indonesian refueling tanker went missing, a Mainland fishing vessel reported finding the Insiko still afloat.

The 11-man crew of the tanker, which had been adrift since March 13 after an on-board fire that killed a 12th crewman, was rescued April 2 by the Norwegian Star cruise ship. The body of the sailor who died in the fire was left aboard the vessel.

For reasons not completely clear, the captain's pet was left behind as well.

The 2-year-old dog drew world-wide sympathy after the Hawaiian Humane Society launched a $50,000 sea-and-air mission April 5 to rescue the animal.

The search was called off April 7 when rescuers concluded that the ship had drifted beyond the 14,800-mile search area or had gone down.

But according to the Coast Guard, 2 1/2 days after the rescue attempt ended, the Insiko was spotted by the Victoria City, an albacore fishing vessel due to arrive in Honolulu today.#034;The exact time that the fishing vessel said they sighted the tanker was at 8:40 p.m. Tuesday," Coast Guard spokesman David Mosley said yesterday. "The position they gave coincided with what we had on our our computers as where it should be. So, it's not confirmed, but we are inclined to agree that it is Insiko."

Mosley said the sighting was approximately 400 miles south of O'ahu. Because that is in international waters, Mosley said the Coast Guard has no jurisdiction over the vessel.

"This is all on the word of the Victoria City," Mosley said. "We have no intention of spending taxpayer money to make sure it's still there."

Although the Hawaiian Humane Society had been criticized by some for spending tens of thousands on saving a dog, it said it had received far more support from all over the world for its effort.

By midweek the society said it had received in excess of $30,000 in donations from well-wishers.

Society spokeswoman Eve Holt released a statement yesterday saying her organization, which learned of the Insiko sighting late Wednesday afternoon, has undertaken an effort to contact fishing boats in the area that could assist in pinpointing the tanker's location.

The statement quoted society president Pamela Burns as saying, "We still have some hope that the Insiko may be found and that Forgea is alive."

But it was unclear from the statement if or when a new rescue search might begin.

Meanwhile, federal investigators had launched a search for nine Insiko crewmen, all from the People's Republic of China, who are now regarded as fugitives.

The ship's captain and chief engineer, who was injured by the fire, left for Taiwan on April 6. But the Chinese crew has not been seen since the Immigration and Naturalization Service released them with the understanding that they would check in again on April 9.

The crew was taken to a Waikiki hotel and was supposed to meet the ship's captain, Chung Chin Po, on the evening of April 3 for dinner. When the men didn't show up, and were still missing the following morning, INS officials were notified.

Those officials said yesterday that leaving the crew on its own was a humanitarian decision based on their ordeal of being lost at sea for 20 days.

"Under the circumstances we thought it would be appropriate," said Donald Radcliffe, district INS director, who added that he thinks the men are still in Hawai'i. "It was a tragedy and disaster at sea. One man was killed. There was no indication this was a migrant smuggling operation. They had suffered and there was no indication they would break the law.

Yesterday, Radcliffe was having second thoughts.

"They have gone underground," he said. "They kind of bit the hand that saved them."

Advertiser staff writer Mike Gordon contributed to this report.