'People begged us to call the police after our creepy discovery on popular beach'
Two pals got far more than they bargained for when they stumbled across an eerie message on the beach.
Chris Hurley, 29, and Matthew Laming, 39, who live in Galway, Ireland, were on a work trip to the Aran Islands and decided to visit Inisheer Island on Saturday, July 19, to see the Plassey shipwreck.
But things took a mysterious turn when they discovered a washed up bottle. On closer inspection, they found a handwritten note lodged inside with an ominous message. It comes after a woman, 20, was found dead on bus with 26 iPhones glued to her body.
As they enjoyed a walk along the shore, they stumbled across the glass object in a nearby rock pool.
"It was sealed with wax, so we thought it was very strange," Chris, a quality inspector by trade, tells the Mirror. "We thought it was a hoax and were going to give it to a child to have fun opening it. But since we found it, we've had this obligation to check it out."
Matt, a supervisor, described the cork as "sealed with a white wax which had a floral scent." He added: "The note was rolled up and held in place with a piece of twine which seemed to have also been dipped in the same wax. The wax was very flaky."
Chris continued: "We brought it back to the pub and tried getting it [the message out], but we couldn't. There was a lot of effort put into it. So one of our other coworkers ended up smashing the bottle.
"The note was slightly damp when we got out of the bottle, perhaps some water got in or maybe it was condensation inside the bottle. The letter was quite stained," Matt also revealed.
But the message inside was far from what they could ever have imagined. The handwritten note only contained three English words - 'Help', 'Hello', and SOS' - the rest was in a different language.
From this, the pals knew they had to translate the full letter, and with the help of some useful software, they made a startling discovery.
Deciphering what they thought to be Indonesian, they translated the message to: "Please send help we are lost since 12/20. There are 3 of us here we do not know the name of this island and we are injured."
Chinese symbols were also included at the bottom of the note, and after sharing their discovery on Reddit, one reader suggested it related to Yong Yu Sing #18 - a ship that was discovered without any crew on it back in January 2021.
The post received over a million views, and many were trying to figure out what really happened. "There's a lot of speculation around, and it's very interesting", Chris said.
But the frenzy didn't end there, as the friends were encouraged to take it to the police to investigate further. "Loads of people were saying, 'You have to hand it in to the authorities and others were saying they were already contacting the coast guard in Taiwan," Chris said.
It eventually made national news in Taiwan and a series of news reports emerged about the ship that was discovered without any crew, four years ago.
The Su'ao fishing boat Yong Yu Xing No. 18 lost contact in the waters near Hawaii on December 30, 2020, Central News Agency reports.
There was said to be "no distress signal at the time," and on January 1, 2021, the shipowner "notified the Su'ao District Fisheries Radio Station and requested assistance".
On board, there was reportedly a Taiwanese captain named Li and nine Indonesian crew members. However, when an aircraft later spotted the ship drifting out at sea, no crew members were found onboard, and their whereabouts were unknown.
Chris and Matt handed the note to the local police in Ireland, who agreed that it was "fascinating" and said they would take a further look into it. Chris added that he's yet to hear an update from the cops, but is eager to see if anything comes from their surprise discovery.
"It's the last thing you'd expect to come across during a work trip, especially," Chris said. "But we had to hand it in, otherwise we'd always ask ourselves, 'what if?'"
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