7 divers rescued after going missing off Japan’s Okinawa
NAHA. KAZINFORM - Seven people were rescued Monday hours after they had gone missing while diving in waters off the southern island of Okinawa, the Japan Coast Guard said, Kyodo reports.
The coast guard had dispatched a helicopter and patrol vessels to search for the group, which included two instructors, after it received a call from their diving boat at around 11:50 a.m.
By 3:10 p.m., all of the divers were rescued by helicopter, according to the coast guard.
The divers had gone missing around 12 kilometers west of the port of Itoman, or about 640 meters north-northeast of Rukan Reef, off the southern part of Okinawa Island, the coast guard said.
The seven divers, four men and three women, were all spotted drifting in the sea near where they had initially been reported missing.
They are believed to have been drift diving -- when the diver uses the current to transport themselves through the water.