Hawaiian officials are investigating what could be the latest large piece of debris from last year's Japan tsunami to hit the islands in recent weeks.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) spokeswoman Deborah Ward said Monday, a large yellow metal object with no markings to identify its origin, swept up on the southern Hawaii coast in Waikapuna near Naalehu over the last week, according to KITV.
The object, which is 10 to 15 feet tall and about 20 feet in diameter was first reported to the DLNR on Oct. 4 from a caller who said he saw it at Waikapuna on Sept. 27. Hikers had also discovered the object on Oct. 3.
A DLNR Big Island staff member was able to locate the object on Friday at the end of a fishing trail on private land.
Two pieces of confirmed tsunami debris have shown up in Hawaii over the last several weeks.
A large blue plastic bin from Fukushima was found in waters off Waimanalo in late September. Last week, fishermen found a skiff from Iwate some 800 miles north of Maui.
More than a dozen large pieces of debris have been confirmed in U.S. and or Canadian waters since the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Japan has pledged $6 million to the United States and Canada to help cleanup any tsunami debris that sweeps onshore along the coasts including in Hawaii and Alaska.
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