A Chinese tourist has been hailed for his bravery after rescuing a woman who fell into the sea at Jogasaki Coast, a popular scenic spot in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, on 16 Sept.
According to Record China, 54-year-old Yang Bo from Xi’an was visiting Japan with his wife after arriving on 29 Aug.
The couple were sightseeing around the country while also visiting their child, who lives there, when the incident occurred.
Mr Yang said he heard frantic shouting in Japanese and went to investigate, where he saw a young woman floating in the water.
At first he thought she was swimming, but quickly realised she was in distress as people onshore threw lifebuoys that were blown away by strong winds.
Believing someone needed to reach her directly, Mr Yang climbed over a fence and began descending the almost vertical cliff, which witnesses estimated at 20 to 30 metres high.
Source: am730
He recalled:
My legs were trembling. Some people on a nearby bridge shouted: ‘Don’t go down, it’s too dangerous.’ I was also scared, but I thought: ‘This is a life, I must save her.’
His wife, who was watching, burst into tears out of fear.
“The waves below were extremely rough, and there was nowhere to place his feet on the cliff. It was very dangerous,” she said.
Mr Yang briefly considered jumping straight into the sea but abandoned the idea because of the rocks below.
Instead, he gripped cracks in the cliff face until he reached the bottom, then removed his jacket and entered the water.
Bystanders had thrown a net bag filled with empty plastic bottles into the sea, which Mr Yang used to support the woman.
“She was lying face down and twitching slightly. I quickly turned her over, placed her upper body on the bottles to keep her mouth and nose above water, and pulled her towards the shore,” he said.
Source: @recordchina on X
The waves, one to two metres high, repeatedly dragged them back.
Having undergone collarbone surgery just a month earlier, Mr Yang soon began to tire.
To keep hold of the woman, he bit down on her hair while using his uninjured arm to cling to the rocks and edge forward.
At one point, after pulling her onto the rocks, a wave swept him back into the sea.
Exhausted, he later described the ordeal as feeling “like running a marathon”.
A local rescue boat eventually arrived, first lifting the woman aboard before returning for Mr Yang.
Both were taken separately to hospital, where he was found to be unharmed.
Source: am730
“Although we couldn’t communicate, the Japanese rescue team kept giving us the thumbs-up to show their respect,” he said.
His wife added that Japanese tourists offered him water and bread once they reached shore to thank him for his actions.
Local firefighters also commended Mr Yang, saying he had bravely put himself at risk to save the woman despite being a visitor.
Also read: Tourists in China join forces to rescue boy trapped in rock crevice as heavy rain approaches
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Featured image adapted from am730.