Tsunami Debris Team Reaches Dock On Wash. Coast

Hiking over primitive coastal trails, a team reached a dock that apparently floated from Japan after last year's tsunami and just washed ashore on a Washington beach, and an official said the group found Japanese writing inside the structure.

The team of tsunami debris experts is trying to confirm that the dock is from Japan and drifted for more than a year before winding up on one of the most remote beaches on the U.S. West Coast.

The team did not find an identifying plaque like the one found on a dock that washed ashore last June at Newport, Ore., said Kim Schmanke, a spokeswoman for the state Ecology Department. That dock was confirmed as debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami.
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