US federal scientists said a volleyball and football that washed ashore on an island may be the first pieces of debris to arrive in Alaska from last year’s tsunami in Japan.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that the sports balls were spotted by a radar technician on Middleton Island. His wife traced the writing on the balls to a Japanese school in an area hit by the tsunami.
Doug Helton of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the balls were among the first pieces of debris that could be traced back to Japan – making it possible to return them to the owners.
Middleton Island lies almost due south of Cordova in the Gulf of Alaska. – (AP)