Plastic bottle saves Japanese sailor

Tsuyoshi Kurosawa, a 28-year-old crewman on the 2,997-ton tanker Sakura Maru, was lost at sea for 10 hours after he fell in the sea late Tuesday while relieving himself over the side of the vessel.

"As an empty plastic bottle was floating by, he used it as buoyancy until he was found," the coast guard said in a statement.

A fishing boat spotted him around 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the coast of the northern city of Kamaishi.