North Korean 'ghost ship' carrying eight human skeletons washes ashore on Japanese beach

Eight corpses which had wasted away to skeletons were found washed up in a small wooden ship thought to be from North Korea on a beach in the sea of Japan.



The coffin ship carrying the eight bodies came ashore on Oga, Akita Prefecture which faces North Korea, just 70 km (44 miles) north of a marina where police last week found eight men who said they were from North Korea.



Police said they appeared to be fishermen whose boat, found nearby, had run into trouble.



Referring to the latest grim discovery, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) said it is still working to establish the nationalities of the deceased, but there has been a sharp increase in North Korean vessels straying into Japanese waters this year.



Experts say food shortages may be pushing fishermen to stay at sea for longer.



The bodies of two males, similarly partly skeletonised, were also found at the weekend on the western shore of the Sea of Japan island of Sado.



Although their nationalities have not yet been established either, what appeared to be North Korean cigarettes and life jackets with Korean lettering were nearby, and local officials said they may have been North Korean.



The coffin ship carrying the eight bodies came ashore on Oga, Akita Prefecture which faces North Korea, just 70 km (44 miles) north of a marina where police last week found eight men who said they were from North Korea .