TOKYO (TR) – Canadian Forces aircraft have spotted a Japanese fishing vessel swept out to sea after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami off the nation’s west coast, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The 50-meter vessel was discovered last week during a routine patrol off the coast of British Colombia near the Haida Gwaii Islands, a government spokeswoman said. Photographs of the ship showed a rusty but still intact hulk.
“Close visual aerial inspection and hails to the ship indicate there is no one on board. The owner of the vessel has been contacted and made aware of its location,” the spokesperson said, according to the CBC.
According to the Daily Mail, the trawler had been moored in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture on March 11.
A debris field of about 18 million tons created by the tsunami that hit Japan is slowly drifting towards North America, the CBC cited scientists from the University of Hawaii as saying. The 3,200-kilometer field is expected to take another two years to reach Canadian shores, the news service report said.
Source: CBC
