Jakarta Globe – AFP, February 21, 2014
Tokyo. Four
Japanese scuba divers who went missing off Bali for three days before being
rescued from a rocky outcrop returned home Friday, looking exhausted from the
terrifying ordeal.
Crowds of
journalists were waiting for them at Kansai airport in western Japan when they
arrived home from Indonesia.
“I feel
terrible to think that we could not come back together,” said Emi Yamamoto, one
of the four, referring to fellow diver Ritsuko Miyata whose body was discovered
earlier this week.
“I hope we
can recover soon and go back to life as it was before,” said Yamamoto, whose
face was badly sunburned.
The four
women were among seven who disappeared after setting off on a diving expedition
last Friday.
Five were
rescued, while the body of a sixth was found floating near a beach. One woman
is still missing, although the Indonesian authorities have now called off their
search.
The party
of seven set off last week from Nusa Lembongan island just east of Bali but
soon got lost. After drifting for a long time, they were slammed against rocks
near the coast and were “swallowed by big waves three to four times” they said
in Indonesia.
Four of
them managed to clamber onto some rocks in a remote area off Nusa Penida
island, which is next to Nusa Lembongan, on Saturday.
They
sheltered from the harsh sun during the day and climbed up to the highest point
to flash distress lights at night, fighting all the time against exhaustion and
thirst.
“We were
exhausted. We couldn’t get any water on the first day as it was sunny. On the
second day, we collected rain water in our fins to quench our thirst. We also
collected rain water in plastic bottles picked up from garbage,” they said in a
joint statement.
They were
rescued by boat Monday in the Manta Point area off Nusa Penida, some 20
kilometers from where they set off.
A fifth
diver, Bali-based instructor Saori Furukawa, was picked up by helicopter
nearby.
The rescued
divers suffered sunburn and dehydration but no serious injuries, although they
have been left mentally “devastated,” a Japanese official on Bali has said.
Indonesian
police have arrested the captain of a boat that took the group.
The man has
been named a suspect and is accused of “negligence which caused the loss of
life” by leaving the female divers alone in the open seas during the trip.
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