Massive amounts of volcanic pumice pebbles spewed from an undersea volcano in the Pacific Ocean have been piling up on southern Japanese coasts, damaging ports and fishing boats, and prompting the central government to establish a task force to deal with the unwanted arrivals as a natural disaster, officials said.
The gray pebbles were spewed and floating from the Fukutokuokanoba undersea volcano in the Ogasawara island chain, which erupted in mid-August. The island is about 1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo.
About 40 fishing boats have been damaged, including six that were unable to move, and ferry services connecting remote islands in Okinawa and Kagoshima have been temporarily suspended.At the Kunigami village on the northern tip of Okinawa's main island, a shovel car started scooping up the massive pebbles that filled the port like a landfill.
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