Boy, 11, found floating on polystyrene at sea after failing to show up at school

A frightened young boy was pulled to safety from the open ocean, discovered floating on a large polystyrene sheet a whole day after he failed to appear at school.

The 11 year old pupil was absent from lessons on Tuesday morning, and his teacher, alarmed by his uncharacteristic non-attendance, tried to reach his parents but got no reply.

The boy, identified only by his surname Tsou, had previously been flagged by social services as residing in a vulnerable household, triggering a welfare visit to the family home. Despite persistent knocking, officers received no answer and subsequently issued a missing-person alert.

That very afternoon, as the search pressed on, a fisherman spotted a child adrift in the water at the mouth of the Zhonggang River off Zhunan Township, Taiwan, clutching a large piece of polystyrene.

The fisherman immediately alerted the authorities, and coastguard officers raced to the scene, successfully bringing the boy — confirmed to be Tsou — safely ashore in an emergency rescue operation.

Following the rescue, authorities contacted his father, who works in Hsinchu, and arranged for him to collect his son.

Preliminary investigations suggest that Tsou may have travelled alone from the nearby Houlong Township to the coastal area to play. The precise circumstances and his reasons for doing so remain under investigation.

The Miaoli County Government’s Education Department has since stepped in, offering counselling and assistance to both the child and his parents.

Two years ago, a young boy was discovered stranded inside a large inflatable bubble adrift at sea by a stunned boater enjoying a family outing.

Rafael Graça do Prado, then 32, was out on the water with his children when he spotted the peculiar object bobbing off Lazaro Beach in Ubatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 24.

Video footage captures the transparent bubble tossing about in the surf with the young boy, approximately eight years old, trapped within.

It is thought the child had been enjoying himself with his parents on the beach inside the bubble, which had been fastened by a rope to prevent it from drifting away. Nevertheless, the rope had snapped and the youngster floated out to sea before being fortunately discovered by Rafael.

His immediate concern was whether sufficient oxygen remained inside the ball.

“I was worried about whether he was able to breathe or not because the balls can be dangerous,” he said. “There is a certain amount of time that you can breathe inside it. I calmed him down, and that was when my daughter started filming.”