36 hours on an inflatable ring: in Japan, a tourist was carried away into the Pacific Ocean (7 photos)
A Chinese woman who disappeared while swimming at Shirahama Ohama Beach has been rescued in Japan. The girl drifted on an inflatable ring in the open ocean for 36 hours. She was found more than 80 km from the coast.
The tourist went missing on July 8 around 7:30 p.m., about 200 kilometers southwest of Tokyo. She was carried into the open ocean by the current and the evening wind from the mountains. According to rescuers, its circle made it difficult to move against the wind.
On July 10 at 7:48 a.m., 36 hours after she went missing, sailors on a cargo ship found the tourist off the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula.
The captain of the ship asked for help from the passing tanker Kakuwa Maru No. 8, transporting liquefied gas. Two tanker crew members jumped into the sea and rescued the girl. A Coast Guard helicopter brought her to land.
Members of the tanker crew said that the tourist was rocked on waves about 2 meters high. She looked exhausted.
Hidetoshi Saito, director of the Japan Water Safety Society, commented: "There are many ships in the area where the girl was found. It's a miracle she wasn't hit."
The Chinese woman was taken to the hospital, but she did not require hospitalization - dehydration was not life-threatening.
This incident is reminiscent of the case of a five-year-old girl who was adrift on an inflatable unicorn in the sea. The child was carried away from the shores of the Greek city of Antirrio. The ferry crew rescued the baby and returned her to her parents.