This article contains more information on a surface float and ditching weights as well as a statement from the other four divers.
Beach Trash, Coconut Water Helped Divers Survive - WSJ.com
Beach Trash, Coconut Water Helped Divers Survive
Five Survivors Give Their First Detailed Accounts; Search for Last Diver Continues
Wall Street Journal
Updated Feb. 19, 2014 9:26 a.m. ET
By I Made Sentana, Toko Sekiguchi
BALI, IndonesiaSurviving thanks to coconut water and beach rubbish, burned by a tropical sun and hurled by waves against rocks, a group of Japanese women stayed determined to go home alive after a recreational dive turned into a disaster.
Five survivors from the group gave the first detailed accounts of their ordeal following their rescue after four days in open water and on exposed pieces of land near the Indonesian island of Bali, a popular destination visited by 3.3 million tourists last year.
Recuperating from first-degree sunburn and dehydration in hospitals in Bali, they answered written questions Tuesday and Wednesday from Japanese media submitted through their countrys foreign ministry. Their tale highlighted struggle and resourcefulness as well as sorrow for a colleague who died and stubborn hope for another still missing.
We kept telling each other
we can get through this, four of them said in a joint response.
Saori Furukawa, 37 years old, one of two instructors leading the group, said in a separate account that the currents were gentle when they made their third dive Friday off Nusa Lembongan, an islet in the channel separating Bali from the island of Lombok, known for tricky currents but also great visibility to see marine life including manta rays and ocean sunfish.
When they surfaced, Ms. Furukawa said, they signaled with their dive floats for their boat to pick them up. But she said that visibility was poor because of sudden heavy rains and strong winds that kicked up high waves.
They heard a boat engine and blew a whistle to attract it. No boat came.
Her colleagues said that they were astonished how far they had drifted underwater. They saw boats but couldnt recognize theirs.
We tried to evacuate to the direction of the shallows, but the tide had changed drastically and we dumped our weights immediately, Ms. Furukawa said. The water surface started to whirl like a washing machine, and all of us huddled closely and held hands.
Darkness increased. They drifted, but Ms. Furukawa said that she used the positions of the coast lines, lights from the islands, the flight course of airplanes and a compass to keep a grasp on their location. Coastal currents pushed them back when they tried to swim toward the islands.
We decided to stay still in order to save our strength, or swam lightly when the tide started to flow a bit toward the islands, Ms. Furukawa said.
The divers were experienced and didnt panic, Ms. Furukawa said. They tried to attract the attention of a large boat with lights but failed. They tied their buoyancy jackets together to stay as a group, cheered each other on to stay awake, and drank water from drifting coconuts.
The next morning, they saw a tugboat passing Nusa Penida, another islet. Ms. Furukawa took a float and swam toward it, kicking my fins with all my might but was unable to catch its attention. Tidal currents prevented Ms. Furukawa from returning to the group.
She eventually reached Nusa Penida and cleared big offshore rocks and high waves that swept her fins away. Ms. Furukawa said that she was too weak to move and unable to seek help, pinned on one side by high waves and on the other by a sheer cliff.
She collected rain water, slurped water droplets from leaves, and drank liquid from plastic bottles littering the beach. She wrapped herself in styrene foam scavenged from the rubbish to stay warm.
The other women also approached Nusa Penida. In their joint statement, four of themAya Morizono, Atsumi Yoshidome, Emi Yamamoto and Nahomi Tomitadescribed a terrifying experience of being carried by big waves toward a cliff and banged atop a rocky stretch.
After the third or fourth wave swallowed us, we were completely separated from one another, they said. It was by chance that the four of us were able to surface
and land. The others didnt emerge.
The four climbed to the highest point on the rock and used lights during the night to draw help, to no avail. They stayed in shade during the day to avoid the beating sun. Losing strength, they collected rainwater in their fins and huddled together during a downpour at night to stay warm.
We kept telling each other that we swam and survived for 28 hours in open water, we can get through this, they said. We also worried about our injuries worsening because pus was forming in some of them.
Search boats found the women Monday. The four on the rock were driven at slow speed to Bali to avoid worsening their injuries. Meanwhile, Ms. Furukawa said that she was lying unable to move and brought to consciousness by people on boats yelling at her. She was taken to safety in a helicopter that first dropped her water and cookies.
I saw from the helicopter that the four others survived, but heard the other two were missing, she said. I was so worried about them I couldnt sleep at night.
The body of Ritsuko Miyata was discovered Tuesday floating off some 30 kilometers from where the dive began. Search teams widened operations Wednesday for the last diver, instructor Shoko Takahashi.
Miho Inada in Tokyo contributed to this article.
Thank you Nihon.Iruka for pointing us to this interview earlier. I found this Japan News article which undertook a English translation (possibly abridged). I hope a serious search is continuing for Shoko Takahashi, the last missing.
Diver describes Bali survival ordeal - The Japan News
Diver describes Bali survival ordeal
8:40 pm, February 19, 2014
Makiko Yanada / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
