Japanese officials indicated today, Thursday, that a Chinese woman was rescued after being swept away by currents for 37 hours over a distance of more than 80 kilometers in the Pacific Ocean on her floating device, after she had been swimming at the beach. The coast guard stated, "A cargo ship spotted the woman early Wednesday, about 36 hours after she went missing, off the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula.” The cargo ship requested assistance from the liquefied petroleum gas carrier "Kakawa Maru No. 8," according to the Associated Press.
The Japanese coast guard began a search operation for the woman, who was only identified as a Chinese citizen in her twenties, after receiving a phone call on Monday night from her friend reporting that she had disappeared while swimming in Shimoda, located about 200 kilometers southwest of the capital, Tokyo. Officials noted that the woman was slightly dehydrated but otherwise healthy and was released after being checked at a nearby hospital. The coast guard mentioned that she had drifted more than 80 kilometers and was lucky to have survived despite the risks of sunstroke, hypothermia during the night, or being struck by a ship in the dark.
