London, March 30 -- A German boy, who tossed a message in a bottle off a ship in the Baltic Sea 24 years ago, has finally received a reply.
Russian Daniil Korotkikh, 13, spotted the bottle glittering on a beach, and found a letter inside from Frank Uesbeck, then 5, reports the Telegraph.
'I saw that bottle and it looked interesting. It looked like a German beer bottle with a ceramic plug, and there was a message inside," said Korotkikh.
His father, who knows schoolboy German, translated the letter, carefully wrapped in cellophane and sealed by a medical bandage.
"My name is Frank, and I'm five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you," the letter said.
It was dated 1987 and included an address in the German town of Coesfeld, where Uesbeck's parents still live. 'At first I didn't believe it," said Uesbeck after getting Korotkikh's reply.
In fact, he barely remembered the trip at all. His father had actually written the letter.
Both met each other earlier this month via an Internet video link.
Korotkikh showed Uesbeck, now 29, the bottle where he found the message and the letter that he put in a frame.
The Russian boy said he did not believe that the bottle had actually spent 24 years in the sea because it 'would not have survived in the water all that time'. He believes it had been hidden under the sand where he found it - on the Curonian Spit, a 60 stretch of sand in Lithuania and Russia.
Uesbek has given Korotkikh his new address to write to and promised to write back when he receives his letter.
Published by HT Syndication with permission from Asian News International.
For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
