Young girl discovered floating in middle of the ocean on inflatable mattress
Coast Guard officials were sent out to rescue the stranded girl and bring her back to shore after she drifted out into the open ocean on an inflatable mattress
The young girl was seen floating out to sea (Image: YouTube)
A young girl became stranded in the middle of the ocean on an air mattress after drifting out to sea. Officials off the coast of Aydin in Turkey were alerted to the child, who appeared to be floating a significant distance away from the coast on the inflatable bed.
The youngster was successfully rescued by Coast Guard officials, who intercepted her makeshift vessel and managed to bring her back to a nearby pier.
Remarkable video footage posted on Turkish news outlets shows the girl, who has not been named, being pulled from the mattress by rescuers and hauled onto a boat.
In a statement, Turkish Coast Guard Command detailed the rescue operation. They said: “Upon receiving information that a child had been swept away on an inflatable sea mattress off the coast of Didim district, Aydın province, and that a call for assistance had been made, one Coast Guard Boat (TCSG-21) was immediately dispatched to the scene.”
“As a result of the initiated rescue operations, the child in question was taken aboard the Coast Guard Boat and transported to Didim Pier.”
The child is not believed to have been harmed during the incident, and was pictured sitting in the back of a vehicle watching videos on a smartphone shortly after her rescue.
The video has sparked outrage on Turkish social media, with many suggesting that the young girl’s parents should have been more careful.
One user on Instagram wrote: “Where are this child’s parents, I wonder?”, while another added “I’m so sorry to hear about the trauma the child must be going through. So, are the parents still sunbathing?”
Despite these suggestions, it is not clear exactly what caused the girl to become stranded on the air mattress, with no suggestion from coast guard officials that any party was at fault for the incident.
The shocking incident is not the first time a child has become stranded at sea on an inflatable. In 2015, a 10-month-old baby was reportedly separated from her parents while on top of an inflatable cot, also off the coast of Turkey.
The young girl was rescued by officials and reunited with her panicked parents.
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