Sports balls swept away by Japanese tsunami found in Alaska

Washington - Scientists in the United States have said that a volleyball and soccer ball that washed ashore on an American island are likely to be first pieces of debris to arrive in Alaska from the last year's devastating tsunami in Japan.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Response and Restoration recently posted a notice online saying that sports balls were spotted by a radar technician on Middleton Island.

According to CBS News, writing on the balls included the name of a Japanese school in an area hit by the tsunami on March 11, 2011.

Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the balls are one of the first pieces of debris that can be traced back to Japan.

Middleton Island, which lies almost due south of Cordova in the Gulf of Alaska, is 70 miles from the mainland.