Woman swept to sea while swimming at a Japanese beach rescued 37 hours later and 50 miles away

TOKYO -- A Chinese woman who was swept out to sea while swimming at a Japanese beach was rescued 37 hours later after drifting in an inflatable swim ring more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) in the Pacific Ocean, officials said Thursday.

Japan's coast guard launched a search for the woman, identified only as a Chinese national in her 20s, after receiving a call Monday night from her friend saying she had disappeared while swimming at Shimoda, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

She was likely swept out to sea by a current and an evening seaward wind from the mountains and her swim ring made it more difficult to move against the wind, experts said.

The woman was spotted by a cargo ship early 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. Two of its crew members jumped into the sea and rescued the woman, officials said. She was airlifted by a coast guard helicopter to land, they said.

In a video released by the Japanese coast guard, the woman — dry and wrapped in a pale blue blanket — stood on the deck of the tanker with a crew member who stood by her in case she lost her balance, while others quietly looked on. A coast guard helicopter hovered above. When she was attached to a rope and safely taken into the chopper, she waved at the tanker crew.

Crew members of the tanker 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 waves that were about 2 meters (6.5 feet) high. Two of them jumped into the water and tied a rope around the woman, while other crew pulled her up to the tanker, they said.

One crew member said everyone was relieved the woman survived, even though she seemed to be exhausted.

Social media was filled with messages praising the crew members who helped in the rescue as “heroes,” saying they did a “good job," while others celebrated the woman's perseverance and survival in good health.

The woman was slightly dehydrated but was in good health and walked away after being examined at a nearby hospital, the officials said.

The coast guard said she had drifted more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) and was lucky to have survived despite the danger of heat stroke, hypothermia at night or being hit by a ship in the dark.

Hidetoshi Saito, a senior member of the Society of Water Rescue and Survival Research, said in a televised interview that the woman's survival was like “a miracle."

The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday noted the safe rescue of the woman in cooperation with the Chinese Consulate and the Japanese authorities as well as the cargo and the tanker crew. In the message, the embassy urged Chinese residents in Japan to check weather and maritime conditions, use caution when going to the beach or engaging in marine activity and to choose locations staffed by lifeguards.