Japanese teachers swims Siberian lake

IRKUTSK, Russia, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A Japanese school teacher successfully swam across a Siberian lake in 15 hours, Interfax reported Friday.

Ikarashi Ken, 52, was escorted Thursday by a motor boat as he swam 18 miles through the 50-degree Fahrenheit water of Lake Baikal, near Mongolia.

The lake is the deepest in the world at nearly 1,000 feet.

Ken has set several records by swimming across other large bodies of water: Pas de Calais, the Tatar Strait, the strait between Hokkaido and Sakhalin, Lake Biwa-ko in Japan, the strait between Korea and Japan and the English Channel.