The Los Angeles Times brings this incredible story about 43-year-old Hideaki Akaiwa, who couldn’t wait for rescue workers when large parts of his hometown of Ishinomaki were turned into a lake by the tsunami, but donned a wetsuit and went looking for his wife himself. He managed to find their house in all the debris, saved her and then later also his mother, who then had been stuck on the second floor of a flooded house for four days. Lugging a fanny pack including green tea, water, a flashlight, work gloves, a Swiss Army-style knife and a change of clothes, he still searches for survivors. Via neatorama.com.
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FYI, there is doubt about him wearing scuba gear as mentioned in the Los Angeles Times. I don’t read japanese, but here is someone who does, and has been researching:
“I really can’t imagine that a journalist would deliberately try to remove novelty and drama from such a story. I can, however, imagine a journalist may have heard about a “wetsuit” and incorrectly associated its use with scuba diving.”
http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/03/23/hideaki-akaiwa-the-scuba-hero-who-saved-his-family/