Posted on: Thursday, June 17, 2004

Missing boater's craft runs aground

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Coast Guard and the Honolulu Fire Department were searching the waters off Turtle Bay late last night for a man whose boat ran aground with a large marlin lashed to it.

The man, identified as Richard Shiroma, is an O'ahu resident, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Brooksann Anderson.

Shiroma had gone fishing yesterday and called a friend at about 2 p.m. to let him know that he had caught a marlin, Anderson said. Shiroma told his friend that he was pulling the fish in and would meet him in Kane'ohe, Anderson said.

But at about 6 p.m., the friend became concerned because Shiroma was overdue and notified the Coast Guard.

"In overdue cases, we start by calling places on land just in case he went somewhere else and didn't call his friend. But that came up with negative results," Anderson said.

A Coast Guard helicopter began searching the waters off Kane'ohe for Shiroma at about 8 p.m. But about an hour later, a security guard at Turtle Bay called the Coast Guard to report a boat that had come ashore.

"They had found a boat that was beached and still running, but it had a marlin attached to the back, which is what the man had reported he caught," Anderson said. "That's the strangest thing about this case. The security guard actually had to turn the engine off."

She said the Coast Guard rerouted its search pattern to the Turtle Bay area. The cutter Kiska joined the helicopter crew and HFD personnel in the search late last night.

Anderson said the search was expected to last through the night.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.