A woman who was swept out to sea while swimming at a Japanese beach has been rescued 36 hours later after drifting in a swimming ring more than 80 kilometres in the Pacific Ocean.
Japan’s coast guard launched a search for the woman, identified only as a Chinese national in her 20s, after receiving a call on Monday night from her friend saying she had disappeared while swimming at Shimoda, about 200 kilometres south-west of Tokyo.
The woman was spotted by a cargo ship early on Wednesday, about 36 hours after she disappeared, off the southern tip of Boso Peninsula, the coast guard said.
The cargo ship asked a passing LPG tanker, the Kakuwa Maru No.8, to help.
Crew members who helped in the rescue told TV Asahi that they shouted to the woman not to give up as she bobbed up and down in two-metre waves. Two of the crew members then jumped into the sea and rescued the woman, officials said.
She was flown by a coast guard helicopter to land, they said.
The woman, who was wearing only a black one-piece swimsuit during her ordeal, was slightly dehydrated but was in good health. She walked away after being examined at a nearby hospital, the officials said.
She has since told officials she noticed she was drifting about half an hour into her swim. She tried to return to the beach but could not.
The coast guard said the woman had drifted more than 80 kilometres and was lucky to have survived despite the dangers of heat stroke under the sun, hypothermia at night or being hit by a ship in the dark.
– with AAP
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