Lego pieces continue to float ashore in the UK. 25 years after the container with Lego fell off the Tokio Express ship.

It has now been a quarter of a century since a container with a Lego fell off a freighter off the coast of Cornwall. It looks like there are still a lot of LEGOs left in the waters off Cornwall and these LEGOs continue to float on shore.

On February 13, 1997, a wave caused 62 containers to fall off the Tokio Express freighter. One of them contained 4.8 million Legos and some are still floating on the beach outside Cornwall. Many LEGOs are shaped ridiculously like octopus, pirate swords, life jackets, diving tanks and swimming fins.

At first, only the lightest Lego pieces floated ashore, but now Legos believed to have sunk to the bottom are also starting to appear on shore. This gives researchers insight into how tides and oceans work, but also what happens to plastic in the ocean when it breaks down. Tracy Williams, beach explorer and author of “Adrift: The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea,” tells Live Science:

“What we find now are the pieces that have sunk as well as the pieces that have floated. It gives us insight into what happens to the plastic in the ocean, how much it is drifting – both on the ocean surface but also along the sea floor – and what happens to it when it collapses.”

Below you can check out a feature from BBC News about Lego pieces floating on the beach outside Cornwall.

gadget, LEGO,

UK, Cornwall, Tokyo Express, waves, history, LEGO history

Across

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