Pumice pileup from undersea volcano causing damage in Japan

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — 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. About 40 fishing boats have been damaged. Officials have warned that the pebbles are moving farther north and could eventually affect entire Japanese coasts. At the Kunigami village on northern Okinawa, a shovel car started scooping up the massive pebbles that filled the port.