Kiev - A teenage Ukrainian girl survived two days aboard an inflatable air mattress after currents swept her out into the Black Sea, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said Thursday. It identified the girl only by her first name Albina, describing her as a hairdresser residing of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province.
Albina had been sunning herself on a beach near the seaside village Melekino with friends and decided to counter cool down by taking to the water and napping on her floating mattress.
Winds and currents pushed her into the open sea before Albina's beach companions realised she was missing. They and shore patrols were unable to see her owing to distance and the low silhouette of the mattress.
Rescue teams began a search for Albina the next day, without success.
The report credited the owner of small motor boat operating in the area with saving her life - discovering Albina the next day by accident.
Until the motor boat reached her, bikini-clad Abina had been without water or protection from harsh sunlight.
Unfortunately for the pair, the motor boat's engine stopped operating shortly after Albina went on board.
An MES search vessel located the drifting motor boat and the pair the next day. Both Albina and the motor boat's owner were badly sunburned, but otherwise unharmed by the 48-hour ordeal.
Rescue teams were quicker on Wednesday, saving a man on an air mattress who had drifted some 700 metres off shore hours after he lost contact with his friends on the beach.
