A moving ambulance is seen. (Mainichi/Kazuhisa Soneda)
A series of water-related accidents occurred in Japan’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido from Aug. 11 to 12, with one swimmer drowning and a fisherman left with hypothermia after falling into the sea.
At around 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 11, a person nearby called the 119 emergency number to report that a person was drowning at Futoro Beach in the town of Setana. The Japan Coast Guard (JCG), police and fire department searched the area and found the body of a man at the bottom of the sea, 70 to 80 meters from the shore at around 7 a.m. on Aug. 12, according to the Setana Police Station. The deceased man, aged 21 from the city of Noboribetsu, reportedly began swimming with a friend at around 6 p.m., when there was no lifeguard on duty.
Also, at around 6 a.m. on Aug. 12, the JCG received an emergency call that a 70-year-old angler from the city of Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, fell into the sea from a rubber boat in the Hokkaido town of Betsukai. The man was rescued by a boat from Marine Rescue Japan’s Notsuke rescue station and taken to a hospital in the town. The angler was in the water for about 1 1/2 hours at a sea temperature of 18.7 degrees Celsius and suffered hypothermia, but was wearing a life jacket and his life was not in danger.
(Japanese original by Haruka Ito, Hokkaido News Department, and Hiroaki Homma, Nemuro Bureau)
AloJapan.com