A 39-year-old Chinese tourist has defied extraordinary odds after spending a week floating at sea after a nighttime fall from a clifftop.
Mr Qin was trekking on Hainan island when he tumbled, finding himself at the mercy of the Qiongzhou Strait – a 20-mile channel separating the island from mainland China.
Without any means of communication, flotation device, or provisions, the man endured six nights and seven days battling powerful currents that dragged him ever further from land.
Fishermen eventually discovered him drifting naked and barely alive some 10 kilometres from the coast, in what medical professionals have described as a "remarkable case of survival against seemingly insurmountable odds".
Throughout his first night in the water, Mr Qin fought desperately against massive waves in a futile attempt to reach the shore.
"The sea is nothing like a swimming pool. I couldn't touch the bottom, and huge waves kept pushing me further out," he later recounted.
"Every time I struggled a metre toward the shore, the waves would yank me three or four metres back. There was no way I could swim back."
By his second day adrift, the coastline had vanished entirely from view.
Overwhelmed by fatigue, he stripped off his clothing, footwear, and wristwatch to reduce weight and conserve energy, at one point attempting to rest on a floating buoy, only to be hurled back into the water.
Hunger became acute by the fourth and fifth days, prompting Mr Qin to dine on small crabs inhabiting the floating debris and buoys around him, catching them with his bare hands and eating them uncooked.
Over the course of his ordeal, he estimates he ate between 70 and 80 raw crustaceans.
"The sun scorched me during the day, but the water kept stealing my body heat. After two or three days adrift, the sea felt as cold as a fridge," Mr Qin said.
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In his desperation, he resorted to drinking seawater and even his own urine to fend off dehydration – which still failed to stop intense hallucinations.
"I dreamed there was a wedding in my hometown, and I was helping to cook, but I couldn't sit in a chair, and my feet couldn't touch the ground," he said. "I could barely breathe, but there was only one thought in my head – I can't die."
On the morning of his seventh day adrift, Chengmai County fisherman Zheng Shizhong noticed Mr Qin floating far out at sea.
"My heart skipped a beat when I saw him," Zheng said. "But the strong current swept him a hundred metres away in the blink of an eye."
Together with fellow fisherman Fu Tingsan, they approached to find Mr Qin unresponsive with his eyes shut, resorting to a four-metre pole to rouse him.
"I think I'm going to die," Mr Qin had choked out as they hauled him aboard.
At Chengmai County People's Hospital, doctors treated him for severe sunburn, infected wounds, dehydration, and internal damage from seawater ingestion.
Having shed more than 10 kilograms, Mr Qin also suffered oral ulcers and infections caused by consuming the raw crabs.
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