Tanker fire blamed
on short circuit

Officials say the crew lost
their personal identification

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By Gary T. Kubota
and Rod Thompson
gkubota@starbulletin.com | rthompson@starbulletin.com

LAHAINA >> The March 13 fire that gutted the Indonesian ship Insiko 1907 was caused by a short circuit in the engine room, said Niklas Peterstam, captain of the Norwegian Star cruise liner, which rescued 11 crew members Tuesday.

During a stop at Lahaina yesterday, Peterstam described information given to him by the captain of the Indonesian ship.

An engine room oiler died in the blaze, Peterstam said. An engineer suffered burns over 50 percent of his body.

The engineer, identified by the Coast Guard as Wong Tehsiong, was taken to Straub Clinic & Hospital where he is listed in stable condition, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Desarae Atnip.

All of the crew are from Taiwan and the People's Republic of China, said Skip Howland of Transmarine Navigation Corp., which represents the "manning agent" in Taiwan that supplied the crew.

Howland said he did not have permission to release the names of other crew members.

Peterstam said the Norwegian Star was on its way to Fanning Island, 1,100 miles south of the Big Island, when its crew spotted a flare from the Insiko 1907. Atnip put the time at 1:45 a.m. Tuesday.

The Insiko was about 15 miles from the Norwegian ship when the flare went off, he said. Peterstam had sailed from Kailua-Kona, he said. If he had left from Hilo, he would have taken a different route and missed the distressed ship, he said.

"They were very lucky," he said. The Insiko 1907's captain told him they fired other flares when ships passed, but no one saw them.

Peterstam said he was cautious about responding, fearing pirates. As the ship approached, his crew saw a signal fire burning on the bow of the distressed ship.

"The entire superstructure was burned out," he said.

The fire had eventually burned itself out, Peterstam said. How long that took was not clear.

It also was not clear whether the engineer was burned when the fire first broke out and, if so, how he had survived for nearly three weeks without major medical attention.

Howland said he could not discuss details of the fire.

Although the ship has been described as a tanker, it is a rather small vessel, about 100 to 200 feet long, and designed for multiple purposes such as resupplying fishing vessels and providing fuel, Howland said.

The uninjured crew members, who lost all their personal identification, were admitted into the United States on "parole" at Kona Tuesday night, said U.S. immigration spokesman Donald Radcliffe. Parole means they have no documents, he explained.

Howland declined to say where the crew members were taken after being admitted.

Taiwan is represented in Honolulu by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. The closest representative of the People's Republic of China is in Los Angeles, and new documents for its citizens would have to come from there.

"Realistically, early next week, they should all be ready to go," Howland said.

A representative of the manning agent will come here to determine the fate of the hulk, but Howland said he has been given no date for the arrival.