The story of Nemo and Hello Kitty has received a lot of attention on the internet in recent days. The Reykjavík Metropolitan Police posted the following note on their Facebook page last week, concerning a report that a mysterious object, or person, possibly a paraglider in distress, had been seen falling into the sea near Álftanes:
“Earlier today it was reported that something had fallen into the sea just off Álftanes. The person who reported it believed it could have been some sort of parachute, possibly a paraglider.
The police of course went to investigate, accompanied by firefighters, a rescue team, and the coastguard. An extensive search was conducted along the coast, where boats and a helicopter examined the surface of the ocean.
After about an hour’s search, the crew of the coast guard’s helicopter spotted the likely victim. It appeared that Hello Kitty had decided to fly off in search of adventure accompanied by none other than the clownfish Nemo. Two helium balloons in the shape of these popular characters had tangled together and taken with them a pair of sunglasses as they flew into the sunset.
It seems the person who reported the object wasn’t too aware of its proportions , which is more than understandable as there is nothing to apply for scale out at sea. He had therefore thought that the balloons were the paraglider and the sunglasses the rider.
After the wind had blown the balloons out to sea, they soon lost flight, but thanks to the valiant efforts of the rescue team, they were saved.
However, only Hello Kitty made it back to land as the rescuers lost Nemo again. This is no doubt one of the most extensive searches ever carried out for this famed clownfish, and moreover, Nemo has yet to be found.”
Several days later an update was posted to the story.
“On Thursday we told of a great search for the perpetually lost clownfish Nemo and his friend Hello Kitty. Now we have another installment to that wonderful story.
The owner of the balloons was a three-year-old girl from Álftanes. She had gotten the Hello Kitty balloon for June 17 (Iceland’s National Day). The Nemo balloon had been tied to her sister’s gravestone that same day. At the end of the day the family thought it would be a great idea to combine the balloons and used the little girl’s sunglasses as an anchor.
It was then that fateful Thursday that the balcony doors were left open and Kitty and Nemo took off and flew off into the sunset. The family at Álftanes watched as the rescuers flocked to the coast but it didn’t occur to them that they were there because of the renegade balloons. Not until the mother saw the photo we posted here on Facebook.
She immediately sent the police a heartfelt note apologizing for the incident. And not only that but the next day the mother and daughter showed up at the police station in Hafnarfjörður with a bouquet of flowers and reclaimed Hello Kitty along with the sunglasses. They were very sorry for the whole thing, which of course was completely unnecessary. The inconvenience wasn’t their fault. We think it’s even worse that we lost Nemo and then it was really just a great exercise for all involved.
The police have officially closed the case. Hello Kitty is back at home, and Nemo has hopefully found his dad.”
