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Human remains
neglected in saga
of stranded dog
Bone fragments found on
the boat where Hok Get
was saved remain unclaimed
When a tugboat crew reached a burnt-out oil tanker in April 2002, the only living creature aboard was the captain's dog, Hok Get.
Most of the crew of the Insiko 1907 was rescued weeks earlier. Hok Get's rescue cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and grabbed the attention of international media, including CNN and People magazine.
Receiving passing mention was the fact that a crew member had died in an intense fire in the engine room, leaving nothing but ash and charred bone fragments.
While the little terrier mix found a good home with an Oahu family, the human remains have sat for nearly three years in a room at the city Medical Examiner's Office. Small remnants of bones mixed with ash, teeth fragments and a metal bridge are sealed in plastic bags, stored in a box on a tray.
"They spent more money and time on the dog than on the deceased, which somehow doesn't seem right," said Susan Siu, chief medical investigator.
The sparse remains of the man could not be positively identified, but according to the ship's crew they are those of Nian Qi Hui of China. Several reasons contributed to the remains being left unclaimed. However, there has been a renewed effort recently to jump the bureaucratic hurdles and return the remains to the man's family in China.
In April 2002, 11 surviving crew members of the disabled ship were rescued by a passing cruise ship. But the ship's dog was left behind and a weeks-long effort ensued to save Hok Get.
News that a body was left on board with the dog mainly fueled speculation as to whether Hok Get fed on it to survive without food. The dog did not; the fire had consumed most of the corpse.
Siu criticized the media for a "one-sided portrayal" of the dog's rescue "over the lost life of somebody's loved one."
The Coast Guard spent an estimated $100,000 to intercept the tanker and tow it to Honolulu. More than $180,000 was also donated to rescue Hok Get.
The Hawaiian Humane Society spent $48,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the Insiko. Of that, more than $45,000 in donations poured in from around the country and the world.
The United States Humane Society also contributed, in part by sending a dog handler in case his services were needed to lure Hok Get from the Insiko.
Fishing vessels voluntarily searched for the Insiko for 11 days, donating roughly $100,000.
A Kailua woman spent $15,000 to charter a private jet to search for the Insiko.
The tanker pulled into Honolulu Harbor on May 2, 2002, to hordes of reporters and cameramen from local, national and international news media, awaiting a glimpse of Hok Get.
Also recovered from the ship were the remains of Nian, who was reported killed when a fire knocked out power and communications to the tanker on March 13.
The body, however, could not be identified by DNA testing since not enough DNA material was left, Siu said.
Chief Medical Examiner Kanthi De Alwis said a forensic dentist analyzed the partial denture and root fragments of teeth.
"We have not made a positive identification because the Chinese government could not provide us with any records of his prior dental work," she said.
Under state law, the Medical Examiner's Office is not permitted to release remains that have not been identified, said a city spokeswoman.
Chief Petty Officer Marsha Delaney, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman, said no investigation was ever conducted by the Coast Guard into the cause of the death or the fire since the incident involved a non-U.S. citizen on a non-U.S. ship on the high seas.
The Coast Guard's main concern was pollution prevention when the tanker, loaded with 60,000 gallons of petroleum products, was brought in, Delaney said.
Siu said Nian's family had requested his remains through an official at the Chinese consulate, but the official left the Los Angeles office and no one followed up on the case.
Based on information from the Attorney General's Office, the Medical Examiner's Office informed the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles months ago that it would need to petition the federal court to have the remains released.
The Attorney General's Office, however, said the advice applied only when a federal agency (the U.S. Coast Guard) was overseeing the case.
The city Medical Examiner's Office is consulting with city attorneys to figure out what to do next. Siu said a crew list may provide presumptive evidence on which a positive ID can be made.
The Chinese consulate in Los Angeles did not respond to a Star-Bulletin letter and several phone messages.
Hok Get's owner, Michael Kuo, spoke in September to Chung Chin Po, captain of the Insiko, who told him Nian is from Fuzhou, Fujian province in China.
Chung related that the tanker had been taking on water, and the crew worked four to six hours daily to pump it out. The victim had been pumping out water in the engine room below deck before the engine was believed to have caught fire, Chung told Kuo.
Chung visited Nian's family shortly afterward and informed them of his death.
"First time, they wanted to see the body," Kuo said, adding that they wanted the body brought back to China. However, on a second visit, they learned there was no body and had agreed that as a seaman, he should be buried at sea, Kuo said.
Kuo said that except for the Taiwanese chief mate, the crewmen were from a rural area in China and not well-educated.
He believes the family may have given up and probably is reluctant to petition the government.
Of the rescued crew, six have been granted asylum and two others returned to China, said immigrant advocate Yuk Pang Law, who obtained the information from the Fujian association in Honolulu.
Former crewmate Liu Shu An, who works in San Francisco, told the Star-Bulletin through an interpreter that he and Nian were both from Pingtang Island in Fujian.
"Pingtang Island is very remote," Law said. "People are very poor."
Nian was in his 40s and married with children, according to Liu. He was not aware Nian's remains were still in Honolulu. Nian, a machinist, was working in the engine room when some machinery burst into flames, Liu said.
"As an association, of course we would very much like to help this family," said Peter Shi, president of the Fujian association in Honolulu, through an interpreter. "But in our tradition, the family is supposed to be the one asking us to help."
Patricia McManaman, who heads Na Loio, a legal center specializing in immigrant rights, is willing to provide legal services for the widow so her husband's remains may be returned to her.
"For many people, having the remains is personally and culturally important," McManaman said. "This is her spouse."
She would also like to help bring closure and "the comfort of knowing where your loved ones remains lie."
Mary Sheridan, professor of social work at Hawaii Pacific University, theorizes that several factors contributed to the enormous outpouring of money and concern over a dog, and the perceived lack of interest in the man's death.
"It was really about saving a life," she said. "The crewman's body is of importance, of course, to the family, but there's nothing that can be done that makes a difference to him. But with the dog there was."
People also view their pets as innocent and vulnerable, she said.
"Our pets bond to us in a way that's not critical of us," unlike family members, for whom mixed feelings exist, she said.
Much evidence in social psychology exists that an individual can't walk away once a commitment to something is made, whether time, resources or money.
"Who would want to be the person to be blamed as the one who left a dog to starve to death out in the middle of the ocean?" Sheridan said.
As for Hok Get: "She's fine. She's very happy, worry free," Kuo said.
Although she loves living in Hawaii, "she doesn't like the beach," he said. "She's kind of afraid of the water."
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