Sailor Found Hiding on Navy Ship 7 Days After Disappearing

The US Navy—with help from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Japanese Coast Guard—spent 50 hours searching 5,500 miles of ocean for Petty Officer Peter Mims, who was believed to have fallen overboard from the USS Shiloh on June 8, CNN reports. So imagine everyone's surprise when Mims turned up on board the Shiloh on Tuesday. Sources tell the Navy Times that Mims was found hiding in an engine room. It's unclear how he survived a week in there with fellow crew members searching the 567-foot vessel for him. The Navy is investigating how and why Mims went missing for seven days. He's being transferred to the USS Ronald Reagan for a medical evaluation.

"We are thankful to have found our missing shipmate and appreciate all the hard work of our sailors and Japanese partners in searching for him," Rear Adm. Charles Williams said in a statement. The search for Mim was suspended June 11, but his sister never gave up hope that he was still alive. "I just can’t believe he’s gone," Amy James told WJAX prior to Thursday's news. "He’s got to be out there." The 23-year-old Mims enlisted in the Navy in 2014. (More missing person stories.)