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By Allan Dowd
VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Police searched a rugged isolated island on Canada's Pacific Coast again Monday, amid reports a Chinese immigrant may have been left behind when authorities removed 131 boat people last week.
Canadian authorities said they do not know if reports that a man remained on the island are true, but noted four men who had attempted to escape detection last week were found on the island a day after most of the people were removed and taken to safety.
A smugglers' boat dropped the immigrants into the frigid waters at Kunghit Island Wednesday after crossing the Pacific. The unpopulated island is on the southern tip of the Queen Charlotte islands, about 100 miles (160 km) offshore and 400 miles (640 km) northwest of Vancouver.
It was at least the second load of Chinese boat people to have reached Canada in less than a month. Both ships are believed to have originated in China's Fujian province, where organized crime gangs run a bustling human smuggling business.
Kunghit Island is accessible only by boat or air. It has no paved roads, but some of the people who went ashore last week were reportedly told there was a major highway near the landing site.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers aided by dogs combed the island. Weather in the area has been poor for several days, and none of those found wandering last week were dressed for the conditions or had brought food with them.
Reports of a straggler on the island emerged over the weekend as officials interviewed the boat people, who are being held at a military base in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
Nine South Korean crew members from the boat were scheduled to appear in court in Victoria Monday to face charges of both smuggling illegal immigrants and over the way the people were left at the island.
Canada had been chasing the boat for two days before it dropped its human cargo, but were unable to seize it before the people came ashore. It is not known where the boat originally intended to land.
Interviews with the immigrants continue, but in contrast to the group of 123 people who arrived by boat in July, only a few of those in the new group have claimed refugee status, George Varnai of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration said Monday.
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