Boat Washed Away by Tsunami Drifted for Almost 10 Years

A fishing boat washed away in a tsunami has turned up 400 miles away almost a decade later. The small boat was pulled ashore after fishermen spotted it floating near Yaene port in Hachijo Island, south of Tokyo, NHK reports. A registration number confirmed that it belonged to a fishermen's collective in Miyagi prefecture, the area hit hardest by the March 2011 tsunami. In the years afterward, the boat apparently drifted many thousands of miles, the Mainichi reports. A large amount of coral was found inside the boat—along with a fish usually found in tropical waters. A local expert on ocean currents believe the boat drifted to an area near the US West Coast before currents brought it to Southeast Asian waters and then back to Japan.