Five years after the tsunami that killed tens of thousands in Japan, a husband still searches the sea for his wife, joined by a father hoping to find his daughter.
August 2, 2016
By Jennifer Percy
...Takahashi kept maps and records (click here) of Takamatsu’s searches, recording which shore and what depth. Sometimes the men searched the same region several times, because bodies and debris moved around in the currents. The shape of each search was different: circular, semicircular, a straight sweep though a current. Now and then Takamatsu had an intuition that his wife was in one part of the sea or another, and Takahashi tried to accommodate his hopes. But there were many restricted areas — fishing routes, places with dangerous currents — and Takahashi had to coordinate each dive with the coast guard and fishermen.
August 2, 2016
By Daisy Grewal
...2002 study in the journal Legal Medicine (click here) examined nine bodies that had drifted hundreds of kilometers in cold waters off the coast of Portugal and Spain. Bodies recovered in the first week were in good condition, but the beginning signs of decomposition were present on a body recovered after eight days. The two bodies recovered after 20 days were highly decomposed and could only be identified through DNA analysis or dental records. As for warmer water, A 2008 study on two human bodies recovered following aircraft accidents found one body off of Sicily to be partially skeletonized after 34 days and a second body off of Namibia to be completely skeletonized after three months.*...
August 2, 2016
By Jennifer Percy
...Takahashi kept maps and records (click here) of Takamatsu’s searches, recording which shore and what depth. Sometimes the men searched the same region several times, because bodies and debris moved around in the currents. The shape of each search was different: circular, semicircular, a straight sweep though a current. Now and then Takamatsu had an intuition that his wife was in one part of the sea or another, and Takahashi tried to accommodate his hopes. But there were many restricted areas — fishing routes, places with dangerous currents — and Takahashi had to coordinate each dive with the coast guard and fishermen.
On
the first dive, Takamatsu took a boat out to sea. He was scared. The
water wasn’t clear, and he knew that below the surface, there were
dangers — he could get caught by a rope or cut by debris. A flipper
might hit his head and flood his mask. The regulator might not work. He
might panic. He could die of hypothermia, entanglement, the bends....
The love in this dedication is indescribable. No one can understand the depth at which these people loved each other. It would be good for Japan to find a way of honoring those lost in the tsunami. This is heartache. The idea the bodies are somewhere rational waiting to be retrieved does not have expectations defined in science.
August 2, 2016
By Daisy Grewal
...2002 study in the journal Legal Medicine (click here) examined nine bodies that had drifted hundreds of kilometers in cold waters off the coast of Portugal and Spain. Bodies recovered in the first week were in good condition, but the beginning signs of decomposition were present on a body recovered after eight days. The two bodies recovered after 20 days were highly decomposed and could only be identified through DNA analysis or dental records. As for warmer water, A 2008 study on two human bodies recovered following aircraft accidents found one body off of Sicily to be partially skeletonized after 34 days and a second body off of Namibia to be completely skeletonized after three months.*...
