60-Year-Old Man Saved Two Days After Tsunami: “I Thought Today Was The Last Day Of My Life”

In times like these it’s always good to know miracles do happen.

A 60-year-old Japanese man was found 10 miles from shore floating on the fragments of his shattered house, two days after the tsunami swept him out to sea.

Hiromitsu Shinkawa was pushed out to sea while he clung to the roof of his home after a tsunami swept away his wife. For two days, he drifted off Japan’s northeastern coast, trying to get the attention of helicopters and ships that passed by – to no avail.

Finally, on Sunday, a Japanese military vessel spotted the 60-year-old waving a red cloth. He was about 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) offshore from the earthquake-ravaged city of Minamisoma, said Yoshiyuki Kotake, a Defense Ministry spokesman.

Shinkawa told his rescuers that the tsunami hit as he and his wife returned home to gather some belongings after Friday’s quake. His wife was swept away, Kotake said.

“Several helicopters and ships passed by, but none of them noticed me,” he was quoted by another defense agency spokesman, who refused to be identified by name, as saying.

Japanese troops used a small boat to pluck him from the ocean.

Military officials said Shinkawa was lucky that mild weather and relatively calm seas enabled him to stay afloat for nearly two days, the Kyodo news agency reported.

“I thought today was the last day of my life,” it quoted him as saying.

Shinkawa’s wife is still among the missing in Japan.

Amazing survival story, but for every Hiromitsu Shinkawa there are thousands more lives lost.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan affected by this devastation.

R.I.P. to all the dead.