TOKYO — Thousands of tons of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials said 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 kilometer (0.6 mile) long.

Thousands of tonnes of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials say. The sardines and some mackerel washed ashore in Hakodate on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Thursday morning, creating a silver blanket along a stretch of beach about a kilometre long.

Thousands of dead fish have washed up on a beach in northern Japan. The fish, mostly made up of sardines and some mackerel, washed ashore in Hakodate on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Thursday,

Thousands of tons of dead fish were found on the northern coast of Japan and no one seems to know why. The sardines and mackerels were found on an over half-mile stretch of beach in Hakodate, Hokkaido on the country's northern main island,

Thousands of tons of dead sardines have unexpectedly washed up on a beach in northern Japan. The incident, which occurred on Thursday, left a beach covered with the fish.