Man reunited with boat lost in tsunami three years ago

A boat which was lost in the 2011 tsunami has been reunited with its owner after it was discovered on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The small Yamaha boat was discovered on Johnston Atoll by volunteer Danielle Lampe who then brought it to Hawaii and shipped it to its owner Tomomune Matsunaga in Fukushima - arriving on 10th November, his birthday, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (£).

Mr Matsunaga lost his home in the tsunami which killed 16,000 people in March 2011 and his boat had been washed away, eventually winding up on the tiny island 800 miles south-west of Hawaii.

In a letter thanking those who returned the boat, Mr Matsunaga said the vessel brought back memories of working on it in his garage and of his children playing on it.

"No doubt, in a few years time, I will be enjoying leisure in the small boat with my children... as we did in the happy days before March 10, 2011," he wrote.

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