Floods in Japan: young man saves 120 people with a jet ski
For 15 hours in a row, he continued to collect people stuck on rooftops. He decided to intervene following a request for help from a childhood friend. After the rescues, he returned to help as a volunteer cook.
Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - He started by saving the mother of a childhood friend, then he rescued about 120 people with his jet ski. This is the story of Shoichi Naito, a 29-year-old Japanese young man, originally from the Mabicho district (Okayama Prefecture).
On the morning of July 7th, Shoichi was in his house in Soja watching the images of the flood on television, when the phone rang: it is his old friend, Keisuke Uemori, 25 years old. "My mother is stuck in her house in Mabicho. Can you save her somehow, please? "
Shoichi immediately borrowed a jet ski, for which he had a license. In the afternoon he arrived at Mabicho: the water full of debris had reached the second floor of the houses, and was continuing to rise. Many asked him for help. The young man promised to come back to get them, but he went first to save his friend's mother.
On bringing her to safety, Shoichi returned to save other people, taking them to the Shinsenji temple, located on a hill. A younger friend helped him: many of the people stuck on the roofs of the houses were old, and they struggled to get on the vehicle.
One of these was Tadayoshi Iwata, 73, with his wife. Joking, Shoichi said to the man: "Grandfather, I risked my life to save yours, now you have to live long!"
The old man cried with joy, calling the youngman a "hero of the city".
In about 15 hours, Shoichi saved 120 people. At 4 o'clock in the morning, his body was so cramped he couldn't move. After time to recover, and the young man returned to Mabicho as a volunteer and kitchen hand for people evacuated in public shelters.
At least 223 people died because of the flood that last week hit the country, 61 of them in Okayama prefecture.
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30/09/2021 18:00
12/04/2019 12:11
