BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- After 97 hours battling against the waves, a relay team of 14 swimmers has successfully crossed the Taiwan Strait, for the first time in history.
The group was composed of seven swimmers from the Chinese mainland and seven from Taiwan. They kicked off their swim on Monday afternoon, from the city of Hsinchu on Taiwan Island, and landed on Pingtan, a city in Fujian province, on Friday afternoon. Swimmers took shifts of about three hours long in the water. But they completed the final leg of the journey all together.
Due to its fast current, high tides and threat of sharks, the 130-kilometer wide Taiwan Strait is notoriously dangerous for swimmers. Even during their successful attempt, the swimmers were forced to pause their crossing for 22 hours, after being confronted by waves measuring up to 5 meters high.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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