Boat adrift since tsunami in 2011 found off island near Tokyo

Coral-encrusted fishing vessel found washed up on Hachijo Island

A fishing boat has been discovered around 650km (400 miles) away from its original home in the Miyaki Prefecture in Japan, nine years after it had been swept away by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami (Google Maps)

Nine years and nine months after the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan triggered a tsunami with 40m-high waves, a small fishing boat originally from the Miyagi Prefecture has been found some 650km (approximately 400 miles) away.

The vessel was discovered drifting near Yaene port, in Hachijo Island located south of Tokyo, on 10 December, according to Japanese media.

The local fisheries cooperative checked the boat’s registration number after it was brought to shore and found that it belonged to a fisheries branch in the northeastern city of Kesennuma, in the Miyagi Prefecture.

The 5.5m-long boat was encrusted with coral, with crabs and a fish found swimming in sea water inside the vessel, reported the Mainichi newspaper, sparking interest in the boat’s journey before it arrived at the island.

According to the newspaper, a resident of Hachijo Island who was an expert on ocean currents estimated that the fishing boat had been swept away to an area near the West Coast of the US before floating to Southeast Asia on he North Equatorial Current.

It then hitched a ride on the Kuroshia Current, which brought it to the island, said the resident.

Last September, a fishing boat that had been swept away from the Iwate Prefecture by the tsunami was found 1,900km away in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.

The devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami swept over the Japanese mainland, killing at least 10,000 people, injuring thousands more and leaving around 2,529 people missing across 20 prefectures.