In the USA, a man tried to swim to Britain on a huge “hamster wheel”
In the United States, an Iranian athlete was arrested for trying to get from Florida to London on an improvised watercraft resembling a hamster wheel. 44-year-old Iranian Reza Baluchi was spotted by the coast guard more than 100 km from the east coast of the United States. He refused to get off the “wheel” and threatened to blow himself up, but as it turned out, he was bluffing, the BBC and Sky News reported. The man’s journey began a few days before the powerful hurricane Franklin affected part of the Caribbean basin and moved towards the United States. Read also: British veteran tried to live 60 days on a deserted rock: he had to be rescued Photo: FLAGLER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE Baluchi claimed that he wanted to cross the Atlantic Ocean and swim to Great Britain, but he was not allowed to continue swimming. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) ruled that the homemade boat was “manifestly unsafe” and was kept afloat by buoys and cables. But Reza Baluchi refused to leave the ship for 3 days until officers were able to safely extricate him and bring him ashore. The man told officers he was armed with two knives the size of a 12-inch ruler – and would try to kill himself if he was removed from the watercraft. The man also claimed that he had explosives on board and held wires in his hand. The police called in bomb disposal experts, but Reza later admitted that the threat was a bluff. This is not the first arrest of Reza Baluchi for trying to go out into the ocean on a self-made vessel, which he himself calls a “bubble”. In 2021, an Iranian man was arrested while trying to get from Florida to New York, but the water took him too far. In 2014, Reza had to be rescued from St. Augustine, and in 2016 – near Palm Beach. The Iranian activist explained that he was trying to make these trips to raise money for various needs, including helping homeless people. Read also: 38 hours at sea. Surfers from Australia who were caught in a storm were rescued in Indonesia
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