On Friday, March 14, the Japanese Coast Guard responded to an SOS call from a sinking ship in the middle of the Sea of Japan. When the rescue effort arrived, they found the crew of a trawler
clinging to the hull of their overturned ship.
After returning to land, each member of the crew and the officers were all questioned about the events causing the accident, but after the interviews, the men were placed in confinement for
suspicion of sabotage. Every man claimed that their boat had been struck by a large cow that had fallen out of the cloudless sky, leading the authorities to suspect the story had been concocted to
cover up foul play.
The men remained in confinement for a week until a call came in from the Russian Air Force, who had heard of the incident. After the call, all of the men were released.
On the same day that the ship sank, a Russian cargo plane was preparing to take off from an airfield in far eastern Russia. Before takeoff, the crew of the plane noticed a cow grazing beside the
runway. Hungry for the expensive meat, they dragged the cow into the cargo hold and took off, intending to have a feast at their destination. Once in the air, the disoriented cow went berserk, thrashing and kicking at anything and anyone within reach. Before the cow could do any
serious damage, the crew opened the cargo hatch and pushed the cow out at 30,000 feet over the Sea of Japan.