A man who tried to escape to London by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a vehicle resembling a hamster wheel has been arrested. This vehicle is designed to travel on water thanks to the man running inside it, just like a hamster.
Reza Baluchi, 44, was captured by the US Coast Guard on August 26, 110 kilometers off Tybee Island in Georgia. According to the authorities, the man was asked to provide the ship license he said he had on the ship.
Based on the condition of his improvised “ship,” USCG officers determined that Baluchi was clearly on an unsafe voyage and asked him to disembark. The man refused to leave his homemade vehicle for three days and allegedly threatened the officers, saying there was a bomb on the ship and that he would use it if they tried to board. The man who eventually abandoned his vehicle now faces federal charges of violating the harbor captain’s order.
This isn’t Baluchi’s first dangerous journey on the floating wheel either. It is known that he was rescued by the coast guard in several other attempts. A trip to Bermuda in 2014 was cut short after Baluchi became disoriented and had to ask fishermen for directions. The Coast Guard warned him not to continue the journey, but he continued and eventually arrived in St. Louis, Florida. He used the locator beacon approximately 130 nautical kilometers off the coast of St. Augustine.
After being pulled ashore during another attempt, Baluchi told Fox 35, “I will never give up on my dreams. They stopped me four or five times, but I will never give up,” and added: “My goal is not only to raise money for the homeless, but to raise money for the coast guard, “raising money for the police department, raising money for the fire department. They’re in public service, they’re doing it for safety, and they’re helping other people.”
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