Ivan survives 18 hours at sea by clinging to a football

This is the unbelievable incident of how a visitor was able to survive being washed out to sea because to the mere presence of a small inflatable ball.

The 30-year-old tourist only known as Ivan got into trouble on Saturday when he got swept up in strong currents off the coast of Myti Beach in Kassandra, Greece.

Friends who were concerned about Ivan’s disappearance informed the coastguard, but Ivan, a native of North Macedonia, was deemed lost at sea.

But luckily, a child’s ball floated toward him in the ocean, saving his life in a story that reminded me of Tom Hanks’s movie Cast Away.

He held on to the ball to stay afloat until 18 hours later, when rescuers found him.

Ivan was rescued from the water on Sunday, and he has been fine ever since.

As of yesterday, however, his companion Martin Jovanovski, who was also washed out to sea at the same moment, has not been located yet.

The unbelievable story of Ivan has received a lot of attention from Greek media outlets. A picture of him standing with the ball, his father, and Anastasia Chalkia, the mayor of Kassandra, has gone viral. In the picture, all three are holding the ball.

By chance, a mother who had seen his account stepped forward to fill in the details of Ivan’s survival.

When she saw the ball on TV, she immediately recognized it as the toy that her sons had misplaced ten days prior to the rescue of the tourist.

On June 30, 11-year-old Tryphon and 6-year-old Thanos were playing with their favorite ball on Evgatis Beach on the Greek island of Lemnos when the sea took it away.

However, ocean currents dragged it 80 miles away from the island and into Ivan’s path, where it remained there until Ivan found it.

Despite the fact that the ball was only partially inflated when he was rescued, Ivan stated to the local media that it was the reason for his survival.