Two US Marine personnel who had been out on a night dive were reported to be stranded on a rocky cliff in Okinawa on the evening of 18 January – but the local fire department had to call in the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) after proving unable to rescue them.
The men had washed up near Ukun Beach on Miyagi Island, which lies to the east of Okinawa’s main island. The fire department called the JCG at 9.37pm but it took some time for a helicopter to arrive, locate and airlift the men to Naha Airport on the main island.
The two men, both aged 22, were stationed at the Marine Corps sites Camp Hansen and Camp Kinser on Okinawa island. Neither was injured, and a Camp Kinser Fire Department ambulance arrived to collect them at 2.20am.
Waves had swept the men onto the cliff, which was linked to a small peninsula on Miyagi, according to the US forces outlet Stars And Stripes. The local fire department had spent 90 minutes trying to rescue them before calling in the Coast Guard, and its operation had taken a further three hours.
“Since it was a rocky place and it was at night, it took some time to confirm their location,” said a JCG spokesman, who could not say when the divers had originally set out.
Okinawa hosts the largest concentration of US military facilities in Japan, with Marine Corps bases making up a significant proportion of these. Camp Hansen is a major training base in the north of the main island while logistics and support base Camp Kinser is in the south.
A number of forces personnel take up the recreational diving opportunities afforded by being stationed in this part of the East China Sea.
Also on Divernet: Two divers die in Okinawa cave
