Together with seven of his friends, Ting went out to sea from Kenting near the southernmost tip of Taiwan for a couple of hours of scuba diving near Chihsingyen (Seven Stars Rock) Sunday morning.

When their time came to go home, the skipper of the yacht that had carried the eight to the reef in the Bashee Channel, separating Taiwan from Luzon of the Philippines, could not find them. Without them, the boat returned to port at 11:30 a.m., and the divers were reported missing.

"My thirst kept me going," said Ting, who was finally able to reach shore on his own power at 10:30 p.m. Sunday night. A diving trainer, Ting was being washed north by the Kuroshio, or the Japan Current, from Seven Stars Rock, some 20 miles south of Oluanpi, for 36 hours before he came close to Tamali, near Taitung on the other side of southern Taiwan.

There is a lighthouse at Oluanpi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan. Almost exhausted, Ting swam ashore with whatever strength he could muster. Fortunately, Ting saw a night angler ashore.

"Help!" he cried.

Cheng Wen-cheng, the man who was trying to catch a big fish at night, heard him. Cheng thought he saw a ghost.

"Well," Cheng told himself, "I have to look see." With his help, Ting came ashore. Using Cheng's cellphone, the diving trainer called for help for the rest of his team.

Help came right away. With Ting's help, the Coast Guard search-and-rescue workers, who had failed to locate them for nearly two days, had a better idea where to find the seven other scuba divers.

"We combed the seas for hours and hours and we couldn't find them," said a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. Rescuers searched waters near the reef, which may pose danger to divers when the tide changes, but they weren't at the right place.Even when told where to look for them, rescuers still had trouble locating them. The rescuers were helped by one of the drifting divers, who was carrying a camera. When she saw a helicopter, 28-year old Liu Hui-chun clicked the flash of her camera again and again. "I was desperate," she said. "It's the third chopper we saw," she added.

Of course, she didn't know Ting had told the rescuers where they were. The two helicopters they saw on Sunday hovered over them but didn't see them. Five of the drifting divers, including Liu, were picked up one by one by the chopper at 2:30 a.m. yesterday. Eight hours later, the last two were found and rescued.

"We split in two groups, four each, while we were adrift Saturday," said Hung Yu-sheng, 29. Later, Ting said he would try to swim ashore and left them. Wang Shun-ping, 28, was picked up together with Liu and Hung. "I am very sorry for causing the people all the trouble," he apologized.

An apology was also offered by Kuo Chun-hsien, 38, and Tu Ting-chang, 38. They were rescued as a batch in the morning. "We shouldn't risk our lives trying to dive near the dangerous reef," Kuo said.

The last two divers saved, Lee Su-ling, 44, and Wang Yu-sheng, 29, recalled how hungry and thirsty all of them were. "Luckily," Lee said, "we all wore diving suits. We were cold, but we didn't suffer hypothermia." Hypothermia is a condition in which the body temperature falls below 35 degrees Celsius. Remaining in cold water for long periods of time may lead to hypothermia, which can kill.

All eight divers were taken to the Christian Hospital and Dr. Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taitung. Doctors said they were all right. "It never occurred that we might die," said Liu Su-ling. "We are all good divers," she added. "And we believed we would be saved." At first they chatted to cheer up each other. Then they gagged themselves to keep strength for a drift that could be very long.

"All that is over," said Liu Hui-chun. The first thing she did after the rescue was to call her father in Pingtung. "Daddy," she said, "I'm all right."

"But I won't do it again," she promised her father. She said she would give up scuba diving for good. "I'll give away all my gear," she added.