5 Japanese tourists rescued off Bali, 2 still missing

USPA News - Five Japanese tourists who went missing Friday while scuba diving off the Indonesian island of Bali have been rescued, officials said on Monday, but two other tourists remain missing. One of the tourists, 37-year-old Saori Furukawa, was spotted in the Nusa Lembongan Sea on Monday afternoon before being airlifted to the Ngurah Rai Air Force Base, an airport south of Denpasar.

Furukawa was immediately rushed to the nearby Kasih Ibu Hospital in Kedonganan, Badung district. Furukawa?s fellow survivors were found in a mangrove forest in Jungut Batu, approximately 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from where the group was scuba diving. The remaining four survivors were evacuated by boat. The local Antara news agency said the four evacuated tourists arrived at Semawang pier in Sanur at around 8:30 p.m. local time on Monday. The tourists were then taken to Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar, but their condition was not immediately known. The seven tourists went missing on Friday afternoon while diving in the waters of Nusa Lembongan, a small island near the main island of Bali. Gede Armada, of Denpasar Search and Rescue, told Antara that the tourists were reported missing at around 7 p.m. local time on Friday, prompting a rescue operation. The diving tour operator searched the area when he first noticed the group had gone missing, but failed to find them. The missing divers are believed to have gotten separated from the group during the drive. A search and rescue operation was expected to continue on Tuesday for the two remaining divers.