Thousands of tons of dead sardines wash ashore in northern Japan

Sardines and mackerels are seen washed up on a beach in Hakodate, Hokkaido, northern Japan (Kyodo News via AP)

Thousands of tons of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials said on Friday.

The sardines and some mackerel washed ashore in Hakodate on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Thursday morning, creating a sliver blanket along a stretch of beach about a kilometre (0.6 miles) long.