Dog sighted alive on ship
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See video of the Coast Guard locating the Insiko 1907 and Forgea. Forgea is seen running from right to left in the beginning of the black and white portion of the clip. |
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Forgea, the 2-year-old dog lost at sea 19 days ago when her crew was rescued from a derelict Indonesian tanker, dined on pizza, granola bars and maybe even oranges last night.
U.S. Coast Guard
The dog survived an explosion and fire in the engine room of her ship, the Indonesian tanker Insiko 1907, on March 13. She was left behind during a daring, late-night rescue of the crew by the Norwegian Star cruise ship April 2 and became the target of a $50,000, unsuccessful search organized by the Hawaiian Humane Society. She was nearly given up for dead, until a fishing boat crew reported seeing the Insiko still afloat a week ago.
This image taken from a U.S. Coast Guard video shows the Insiko drifting in the Pacific east of Johnston Atoll.
And yesterday afternoon, a Coast Guard air crew on an environmental mission spotted her aboard the burned-out Insiko, drifting 255 miles east of Johnston Atoll.
"We saw the dog running from one end of the bridge wing to the other," said Lt. Chris Shivery, co-pilot of crew. "Definitely very much alive and apparently fairly healthy."
The dog might be rescued as early as today.
The air crew had been searching for the Insiko throughout the day, Shivery said, after computer generated models based on the past two sightings showed the ship could be nearing Johnston Atoll.
It had carried 200 tons of diesel fuel. Running aground on Johnston could prove an environmental disaster to the national wildlife refuge.
The C-130 crew set out to search an area 100 nautical miles by 200 nautical miles, Shivery said. The searchers started at the southwest corner of the patch of Pacific and worked their way to the northeast. They were within 30 minutes of returning to Barbers Point when the radar man reported a sighting: a ship, dead in the water, fitting the description of the Insiko.
At 4:30 p.m. the crew dropped the plane to 5,500 feet and saw the ship had a burned-out bridge. They dropped to 1,500 feet, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Stacy Sorenson, a crewman taking videotapes of the Insiko, let out a whoop.
"He said: 'I see it, I see the dog,'" Shivery said. "'At least I think I did.'"
They replayed the video: It was the dog.
Sorenson took up a quick food collection: snacks brought aboard by the crew members and remnants of in-flight meals, including pepperoni and sausage pizza, granola bars and fruit. There wasn't time to be picky. They stuffed everything they had into a huge can, covered the top with a rubber glove and threw it from the back of the airplane.
It exploded onto the deck, spewing food everywhere. The crew wasn't able to stick around to see how well Forgea enjoyed it.
"Do dogs eat oranges?" Shivery said after the flight.
When they returned, they reported the Insiko's location to the Hawaiian Humane Society.
"Isn't it fabulous?" Pamela Burns, president of the society said last night. "I'm absolutely thrilled."
Burns said American Marine Corp., the company the society had hired to mount a search operation, had made contact with a fishing boat in the area, and plans are being made to try rescue the dog as early as today or as soon as possible.
