TOKYO, Oct 21 (AFP) - As water swirled below them and cold rain lashed down, 37 mostly elderly people trapped atop their tour bus during a deadly Japanese typhoon decided to face down their fears. So they sang together.
The passengers, who were on their way back from visiting hot springs, waited overnight for nine hours before a helicopter and rafts plucked them to safety in Maizuru, 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Tokyo.
A nearby river engulfed the entire city after Typhoon Tokage raged through the archipelago on Wednesday, killing 61 people and leaving 22 missing across the nation.
As night fell the muddy water swirled into the tour bus. The passengers -- most of them in their 60s and 70s -- broke the windows and decided to climb up to the roof.
Even on the highest point they could find, the water rose to around their waists as they were lashed with cold rain. Some called for help on their mobile phones.
"It was so scary but we held on together, cheering ourselves up," Tsutomu Nishimura, 62, told local media.
In a bid to build up their courage, they sang in chorus popular songs such as "I look up when I walk," which is known outside Japan as "sukiyaki."
Drenched, they also formed a circle arm in arm to warm up and yelled together: "Heave-ho Heave-ho."
"It was so cold," Nishimura said. "I was afraid the bus would overturn."
Rescue operations ran into trouble as strong winds and high water levels blocked troops and rescuers from approaching the site, where only some roofs of houses and vehicles as well as parts of tall trees could be seen.
As dawn broke the rescue operation resumed. When they heard the noise of a helicopter, the passengers burst out in celebrations, Nishimura said.
"Yes! They finally got here," the passengers said repeatedly. They were taken to hospital later but no one was seriously injured, officials said.
Some 100 local residents in Maizuru were also rescued safely. Some of them were forced to hold fast to electric polls while others swam to the roofs of half-flooded houses to await help.
Tokage, which means lizard in Japanese, was the deadliest typhoon to strike Japan since 1991 when the toll was one higher at 62. Tokage is a record 10th major storm to hit Japan from the ocean in a year.
In other areas of the nation, rescuers also searched by boat among flooded houses for the missing. Trains that had stopped before the storm were tossed aside by the fierce winds.
10/21/2004 12:12 GMT - AFP