The bike was found in a container, along with golf clubs, tools and camping equipment
11:19am UK, Tuesday May 01, 2012
A Harley-Davidson caught in last year's devastating tsunami in Japan has washed up in Canada after drifting across the Pacific.
The motorbike, with Japanese plates from one of the hardest hit areas, was found on the west coast by a beachcomber in a cargo container on the Haida Gwaii islands, off the coast of British Columbia.
"You just never know what you're going to stumble upon when you go for a drive and, lo and behold, you just come across something that's out of this world," said Peter Mark, who was riding an all-terrain vehicle on the beach.
The container also held new golf clubs, tools and camping equipment.
The Japanese consulate in Vancouver has been told the plate number and is looking into whether the owner of the motorcycle is still alive.
Japanese and Canadian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The plates indicate the motorcycle was registered in Miyagi prefecture, where thousands died during the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
If confirmed, the motorcycle and the container would be the first known debris to wash up in Canada, some 4,500 miles (7,000 kilometres) away.
Some 20 million tons of debris have been washed up at other places since the disaster, and researchers in Hawaii have developed computer models to forecast debris movement and predict where and when it could come ashore.
The US Coast Guard in early April sunk a deserted Japanese trawler that had appeared off the coast of Alaska more than a year after being set adrift by the tsunami.
- Sky News
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