Husband Goes Diving Every Week To Search For His Wife's Body After Japan's 2011 Tsunami

11 years have passed since the tragic earthquake and tsunami that shook Japan and claimed almost 20,000 lives.

As the tragedy struck, thousands went missing and to this day, their loved ones are living with the hope of meeting them. One such man is Yasuo Takamatsu, 65 who is still searching for his wife.

Yuko Takamatsu, then 47, disappeared in Onagawa, one of the hardest-hit areas affected by the disaster.

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Yasuo told the Associated Press that he has spent years looking for his wife on land before turning to water in 2013 when he got a diving license.

"I dive as if I'm going to meet her someplace," he said.

Yasuo still searches for his wife weekly, and has vowed to continue the search 'as long as [his] body moves.'

He explained that his wife said she wanted to go home in the last message she sent him, and he has made it his life's mission to make it come true.

Her last text message read: "Are you okay? I want to go home."

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His wife's mobile phone has been found after the disaster but they have not found her body to date.

BBC reports her phone was found months after the March 2011 tragedy and Yasuo discovered a message she had written but had been unable to send.

It read: "The tsunami is disastrous."

The widower says it is difficult for him to cope with the thought that he survived the tragedy but he is not searching for his wife.

Yuko was at the bank where she worked when the tsunami hit and some information is known about what happened to her before she disappeared.

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She was reportedly one of the workers who was clearing up the damage from the earthquake and was already warned b the manager about the impending tsunami, so they climbed up on the roof. 

The workers were warned of a six-meter wave, but they briefly debated if they had enough time to escape to the nearby taller building but ultimately decided to stay on the roof of the bank.

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That was when Yuko texted her husband: "Are you safe? I want to go home."

Tragically, the tsunami was much bigger than expected and witnesses took to social media afterward to recall seeing the bankers trying to escape.

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One Facebook post read: "We get a lump in a throat every time we think about the female bankers who, wearing skirts, had to climb the ladder with unimaginable fear, and male bankers who threw off their coats at the last minute regardless of the cold weather, their fear, despair and regret."