FUKUOKA (TR) – Police here launched an investigation after the body of a man weighed down with stones was discovered floating in the Kanmon Strait on Wednesday morning, reports TBS News (July 1).
Shortly before 10 a.m., a female passerby near the Moji Saki Lighthouse in Kitakyushu’s Moji Ward called police. “A person is floating in the Kanmon Strait. He is lingering near the wharf,” the woman reported.
Officers and rescue personnel rushed to the scene and found the man floating face-up about three meters from the sea wall. He was pulled from the water but pronounced dead at the scene.
In a bizarre and grim discovery, police revealed that the body was found wrapped with a rope tied to a rock measuring up to 30 centimeters in diameter. Furthermore, he was wearing a backpack filled with stones, presumably intended to act as weights.
The Moji Police Station described the victim as a male estimated to be in his 40s to 70s. He was dressed in a navy blue long-sleeved shirt and navy blue pants, and investigators noted there were no prominent external injuries on the body.
Authorities are currently working to identify the deceased and determine the exact cause of death.
