Japanese catches wave, goes missing

>> Sunday, May 30, 2010

By Freddie Lazaro

SAN JUAN, La Union – Hopes dimmed for a Japanese tourist who went missing while swimming at a beach resort Barangay Urbiztondo, here night of May 23 even as search-and-rescue operations widened last week.

Chief Inspector Marlon Peste, local police chief, said there was no sign of 54-year-old Nobory Herai, a native of Okayama City, Okayama, Japan, who was vacationing in this town with his friend and countryman Takashi Ouchi, 40.

A separate report referred to the victim’s surname as “Hitai.”

Based on Ouchi’s statement, Peste said the two Japanese tourists arrived here afternoon of May 23 from Manila.

They immediately went swimming late in the afternoon until around 7:30 p.m. when Ouchi left Herai in the water to have a cigarette at the resort’s parking lot.

Peste said that when Ouchi returned to the beach to check on his friend, Herai was already missing, prompting him to alert resort staff.

The Philippine Coast Guard joined the search with a team of divers scouring the coastal area for Herai but to no avail as of press time Tuesday afternoon.

The beaches of La Union are known as a surfer’s haven for big waves that crash to shore.


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