Man washed ashore in Florida after trying to run on water

A man who wanted to run on water from Florida to New York has washed up on the Floridian coast in a large hamster-wheel-like contraption.

Reza Baluchi told local media he was travelling 1,000 miles (1,609 km) north from Florida’s east coast for charity.

However, he ended up 30 miles south of his starting point in St Augustine.

Mr Baluchi encountered “complications that brought him back to shore”, and was “safe with no injuries”, Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) then came to help him, the sheriff’s office added, and to “ensure the vessel [and] occupant are USCG compliant for their safety moving forward”.

Images taken by the sheriff’s office show a large human-sized cylindrical container, with multiple floating devices attached to each side.

Mr Baluchi told local station Fox 35 News that he was raising money for public services, including the Coast Guard.

He added that he had tried to make journeys in the contraption – which he calls his “bubble” – before.

In 2014 he had to be rescued from a similar contraption near St Augustine, and then two years later he again had to be rescued off the coast of Jupiter, near Palm Beach in Florida.

“I will show people anything you want to do, do it,” he told Fox. “Don’t listen to anyone. Chase your dreams.” BBC