Boat Confirmed As First Japanese Tsunami Debris To Reach Calif.
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. (AP) — Federal officials say a fishing boat that washed ashore in Northern California is the first debris to reach the state that's been confirmed as having come from the Japanese tsunami.
The Del Norte Triplicate reports that the 20-foot vessel belongs to the marine sciences program at Takata High School in the town of Rikuzentakata in the Iwate prefecture. It washed ashore in Crescent City on April 7.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration confirmed the boat's origin on Thursday with help from the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco.
NOAA spokeswoman Keeley Belva says the skiff is the first confirmed debris from the 2011 tsunami in California. In total, 27 items from among more than 1,600 reports of debris have been firmly traced back to the tsunami.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
