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A 79-year-old man in Taitung sparked a full-blown missing person scare on Tuesday after heading out on a friend’s boat to go spearfishing and snorkeling off Pirate Bay in Beinan Township. While out at sea, he was away from the boat for so long that his friends started getting worried. They couldn’t find him anywhere so they returned to shore to report him missing. Just as the Coast Guard got ready to launch a search for him, he suddenly appeared onshore. He was exhuasted and furious, believing that his buddies had ditched him, forcing him to swim for almost three hours to make it back to shore.

Deploying a speedboat, the Coast Guard is searching for a 79-year-old man along Pirate Bay in Taitung’s Beinan Township, after they were notified that he had gone missing.

Just as Coast Guard officers were busy searching for him, the elderly man, completely drenched, appeared onshore and rested upon a black off-road vehicle to catch his breath. He asked for water from an angler. The group of anglers was looking on towards the horizon, hoping to spot him, and yet he’s already appeared right in their presence, alive and well.

Angler
Pirate Bay
We asked him, “Uncle, how come you’re here?” He said that he was ditched by friends. I asked him how he made it here, and he said that he’d swum to shore. That’s how we realized it was him that the Coast Guard was looking for.

Fortunately, it was all just unfortunate timing. According to the man, he had gone snorkeling and spearfishing with friends and taking their boat. After he’d surfaced, his friends were nowhere to be found. Furious and believing that his friends had abandoned him, he decided to swim back to the fisheries conservation area himself, which took nearly three hours.

79-yo man
Stranded at sea
It was at least two to three nautical miles. Fortunately, the currents were drifting towards the shore, otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible.

- Do your friends know?
- He said his friends ditched him.
- I called but he didn’t pick up. Well, he could’ve checked if someone called first.
- Oh, so he knew that he should call you?
- No, the police.

The man still believes that his friends should have stayed a little longer and only seek help when they’re sure he’s truly missing. Fortunately, it all ended well. The only thing now is to repair trust between friends.

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#fishing #angler #diving #snorkeling #tropical #fish

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