A remarkable tale of survival emerged from the southeast coastal waters of Japan, where a Chinese woman spent days adrift at sea, clinging to an inflatable intertube. The unnamed woman, in her 20s, had been reported missing last Monday while swimming with friends on a beach in the city of Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. She was holding onto an inflatable recreational intertube when she was swept out to sea.
After being alerted by her friends, the Coast Guard launched a search operation but could not locate her in Shizuoka. It wasn’t until 36 hours later, at 8:00 am on Wednesday, that a passing cargo ship spotted her in the waters of the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture. During this time, she had floated over 50 miles (80 kilometers), with the waters maintaining a temperature of around 24.1 degrees Celsius or about 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
The cargo ship was too large to rescue her directly, so they hailed a nearby tanker for assistance. Two crew members from the tanker jumped into the water to rescue the woman, believing she was a member of the cargo ship’s crew. Those remaining on board encouraged her not to give up.
Once in the water, the crew fastened a rope around her waist as she was too exhausted to climb the ladder. After several tense minutes and 36 hours adrift, she was finally safe on deck.
Footage released by the Japanese Coast Guard, who later air-lifted the woman to a hospital, shows her standing on the tanker’s main deck wrapped in a blanket. Despite her ordeal, she was unharmed apart from exhaustion and managed to walk out of the hospital on her own.
Hidetoshi Saito, a senior member of the Society of Water Rescue and Survival Research, described her survival as “a miracle” in a televised interview.
This incident is reminiscent of other close calls, such as when a group of teen swimmers drifting in the ocean were miraculously rescued by a boat named ‘Amen’ after praying for help. Similarly, two women and their dogs were rescued after spending five months adrift on the Pacific Ocean.
Please share this woman’s terrifying ordeal and fortunate rescue with your friends.
Source: Good News Network
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