A man who went missing after losing contact with his wife and their tour guide during a caving tour on Japan's westernmost island of Yonaguni in Okinawa Prefecture was possibly located Wednesday, police said.
Police rescuers believe they found the 41-year-old man in the cave after he went missing Tuesday, but his physical condition is unknown with access to him hampered by high water levels.
After starting the tour Tuesday morning, the three were separated due to a sudden rise in the cave's water level, the 28-year-old tour guide from Yonaguni told police.
The guide and the woman, who lives in Nagoya in central Japan, were able to find each other after the water level fell. They escaped the cave uninjured in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The tour, conducted in the island's southeastern Arakawabana region, was supposed to last for approximately two and a half hours.
According to the tour operator ActPro Co., when the three did not return at their scheduled time, a staff member went to the cave to search for them but was hampered by the water level.
ActPro opened an office in Yonaguni last year and operated its tourism business from November, with one of its featured offerings being the cave exploration tour, conducted by a licensed guide.
Yonaguni Island in the southern prefecture of Okinawa is located closer to Taiwan, at around 110 kilometers, than it is to Okinawa's main island, which is 510 km away.
