KAGOSHIMA (Kyodo) A Japanese man who fell off a freighter clung to an empty 2-liter PET bottle until he was rescued by a ship off Kagoshima Prefecture's Yoron Island, Coast Guard officials said Friday, noting that was all he had to keep him afloat.
The 24-old-year man fell off the deck of an Okinawa-bound tanker Thursday morning. The crew of a Liberian-registered freighter found him about two hours later, according to the JCG officials.
They said there were several fortunate factors for the man, who was rescued about 25 km east of Yoron Island.
"He might have become much weaker without the plastic bottle and may not have stayed alive," one official said. "The freighter happened to pass nearby and it's likely the crew only spotted him because of the fine weather and clear visibility. The sea was tranquil and apparently the water temperature out there was quite high. It seems that everything worked in his favor."