A 50-year-old fisherman missing since he reported engine trouble more than a month ago was rescued Sunday after another vessel spotted his trawler drifting in the Pacific, authorities said. Mitsushige Takechi said he survived for 33 days on fish he caught and the small amount of water he had with him on the boat. He had been missing since July 24, when he made a distress call to report engine trouble off the coast of Nagasaki, 610 miles southwest of Tokyo. Two days later, Coast Guard boats and aircraft launched a search but called it off after two days when they failed to locate him. Takechi's boat was found Sunday drifting in the Pacific about 480 miles east of Tokyo. "I thought I was going to die," he told nationwide broadcaster NHK television after being airlifted to a hospital. "But I guess I don't die that easily."
Remarkable Rescue
A 50-year-old fisherman missing since he reported engine trouble more than a month ago was rescued Sunday after another vessel spotted his trawler drifting in the Pacific, authorities said. Mitsushige Takechi said he survived for 33 days on fish he caught and the small amount of water he had with him on the boat. He had been missing since July 24, when he made a distress call to report engine trouble off the coast of Nagasaki, 610 miles southwest of Tokyo. Two days later, Coast Guard boats and aircraft launched a search but called it off after two days when they failed to locate him. Takechi's boat was found Sunday drifting in the Pacific about 480 miles east of Tokyo. "I thought I was going to die," he told nationwide broadcaster NHK television after being airlifted to a hospital. "But I guess I don't die that easily."
