Japanese officers to probe stabbing
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Three Japanese Coast Guard officers have been sent to Hawai'i to investigate a stabbing death aboard a Tokyo-based tuna fishing vessel.
No. 18 Shojin Maru, a Japanese-flagged ship, was anchored off Honolulu International Airport's reef runway last night with a suspect aboard and in custody.
Akira Yoritaka, an official with the Japanese Coast Guard's International Affairs Crisis Management Division in Tokyo, told The Advertiser last night that the stabbing occurred at 5:20 p.m. Feb. 28 while the ship was at sea about 1,200 miles south of Hawai'i.
The victim is a crew member of Chinese ancestry; the suspect is of Vietnamese ancestry, Yoritaka said. It was not known what their nationalities are.
It is unknown if Honolulu police or the Honolulu medical examiner's office will be called to assist.
Last year a cook on a Taiwanese fishing boat was sentenced here to 36 years in federal prison for the 2002 stabbing deaths of the captain and first mate of the Full Means No. 2.
Defendant Shi Lei said he acted in self-defense.
Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
