Posted on 07/15/2022 7:02:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
A 30-year-old North Macedonian man is alive today, thanks to a small soccer ball that children 80 miles away had lost ten days earlier.
Some time earlier this month, a man known only as “Ivan” was vacationing with friends near Kassandra, Greece. They were enjoying time on the beach when a strong current swept three people, including Ivan, far out to sea. Ivan’s friends alerted authorities, who immediately sprang into action, but despite a thorough search, no one could find him.
Meanwhile, Ivan found himself lost at sea with little hope of rescue when a small half-deflated kids soccer ball drifted right into his path. He grabbed hold of the ball and clung to it for dear life. Eighteen hours later, a helicopter from the Greek Air Force finally spotted him.
Ivan was taken to the hospital, where his father and even the local mayor were able to visit with him.
“I had constant information on the course of the rescue and am very happy about the smooth ending of the young man’s adventure,” Anastasia Chalkia, the mayor of Kassandra, wrote in a translated Facebook post. “The young man found a ball that saved his life as he helped him when he got tired.”
Chalkia thanked the rescue team and emergency medical professionals who assisted Ivan and held the heroic soccer ball as she posed for pictures with Ivan and his father at the hospital.
When the story hit the news, the mother of the two boys who had lost the soccer ball ten days prior recognized the toy on TV and came forward to identify it. Evgatis Beach on the Greek island of Lemnos, where her sons Tryphon and Thanos had lost the ball, is approximately 80 miles away from the location where Ivan was rescued.
Unfortunately, the rest of the story may not have such a happy ending. Ivan’s friend, Martin Jovanovski, still remains missing, and members of the Greek coast guard and local volunteers have searched almost continuously to find him. Martin’s brother, Goran, is expected to arrive in the area on Friday to help with the rescue effort as well.
Goran told reporters that he “will move the earth and heaven” to find his brother and “will mobilize everything necessary.”
Mayor Chalkia also shared a message about Martin in her post: “Investigations continue to locate a third missing person. I hope the third boy will be found alive very quickly.”
Winston! 😁
>where her sons Tryphon and Thanos had lost the ball
Woman, are you trying to raise super-villains?
I hear “Ivan’s” real name is Tomas Hanksovic.
Wilson....................
Quite a Marvel, isn’t it?............................
It just so happened a kids soccer ball drifted right into his path. He grabbed hold of the ball and clung to it for dear life. It just so happened a helicopter from the Greek Air Force finally spotted him.
Looks like God was watching over him.
aaa——’WILSON’
Boy Scouts and Marines know how to turn your pants into an improvised flotation device. Of course, if you are wearing only shorts or swimming trunks, that won’t work.
wilson
They were born from her head after she was banished from Olympus after getting pregnant from some god there.
It could have half deflated or it could have been half inflated depending on how you look at things.
That there’s the only worthwhile use for a soccer ball I can think of.
Wow. Consider the odds of being washed out to see, and then the odds of a soccer ball floating right by you.
You slipped in ahead of me with my precise thought! Soccer sucks. This from a veteran dad who spent about 8 years in all conditions from broiling Heat to sleet, hostage watching my boys play satan’s sport.
That must have been the scariest 18 hours this man has ever experienced.
Helplessly floating about in choppy waters like a piece of driftwood.
He’s lucky no sea creatures decided to nibble and gnaw at his legs, just to get a quick taste of his unidentified floating object.
Very nice! He saw about the same amount of action adrift at sea as occurs in a typical soccer match.
Drifter 1
Sea Nil
That was a hanging curve ball over the middle of the plate, right there.
Every soccer ball looks like every other soccer ball. How did Mom know this was their particular soccer ball? And the kids...Tryphon and Thanos?!
Tom Brady is smiling.
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