Team investigating missing captain

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Federal authorities today were investigating the disappearance of the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel in waters off Hawai'i.

A multi-agency team led by the U.S. Justice Department boarded the Full Means 2 today after the Coast Guard received a report of trouble on board the vessel. Officials with the department and FBI remained on the Full Means 2 last night and were not available for comment.

A Coast Guard spokeswoman declined to comment.

But a representative from the Taiwan government said that her office was notified today by the Coast Guard of trouble on the vessel. Ellen Chen, assistant to the director general of the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Hawai'i, said the Coast Guard boarded the Full Means 2 this morning and discovered that the captain was missing.

"The captain is our national so we are concerned about that very much," Chen said. She identified the captain as Chen Chung She, who she said is in his 50s.

She said the Full Means 2 crew is from Mainland China and it is common to have a Taiwanese captain leading such a crew.

Although the Full Means 2 had a Chinese crew, the vessel operated under the flag of the Republic of Seychelles. Seychelles is a group of islands off of Eastern Africa and north of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.