Boy’s soccer ball lost in tsunami and found in Alaska

Mr. & Mrs Baxter

Sixteen-year-old Misaki Murakami’s name was written on the ball that was swept out to sea in March 2011. He lives in the town of Rikuzen-takata, which was very badly hit by the tsunami. On the day of the disaster Misaki was at home sick, but fled to higher ground when the earthquake struck, Kyodo. His home was then swept away.

David Baxter found it more than a year later on Alaska’s Middleton Island, 70 miles (112km) from the mainland.

From Japan to Middleton, Alsaka

“I’m very grateful as I’ve so far found nothing that I’d owned,” he told broadcaster TBS on Sunday.

According to NOAA (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Mr Baxter’s Japanese wife translated the writing on the ball, which included a school name and a “good luck” message. NOAA has been monitoring floating debris from the tsunami over the past year.

“This may be one of the first opportunities since the March 2011 tsunami that a remnant washed away from Japan has been identified and could actually be returned to its previous owner.”

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[source]