Japanese Tsunami Debris 'Ghost Ship' Spotted Drifting Off British Columbia

Last week, a rusted ‘ghost’ ship was spotted off the coast of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia. Canadian officials have now confirmed that the ship is indeed debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami. Other debris is now expected to be approaching Canadian waters, just after the one-year anniversary of the natural disaster that claimed 19,000 lives.

After drifting in the Pacific Ocean for about a year, the vessel is pretty deteriorated. Air crews were dropped down to inspect the decks and locate any potential bodies trapped onboard to no avail. Canadian authorities then used the ship’s hull numbers to track its Japanese owners down, who also confirmed that no one was onboard at the time of the tsunami.

The squid-fishing boat was anchored at the port city of Hachinohe, Japan when the devastating tsunami hit and was only recently rediscovered by a routine coastal air patrol drifting right-side-up. The Canadian Coast Guard issued a warning to all vessels that the ship is an “obstruction to navigation”, according to the National Post. Transport Canada is still monitoring the area to determine whether or not the vessel was leaking fuel.

Predictions have the ship making landfall in just less than two months, unless a storm sends the boat hurtling into the coast before week’s end. No plans have been made to intercept the vessel; it has virtually no worth now and no one wants to deal with the massive cost in towing it to shore.

Although Oregon and Alaska have reported alleged tsunami debris in their coastal communities, until the fishing vessel was spotted last week, neither the Japanese or Canadian governments were willing to confirm that the discoveries were evidence of tsunami debris. Models drafted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had estimated tsunami debris was not set to hit North American waters until mid-2013.

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