APWARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
August 9 was the 70-year anniversary of the day America dropped the second atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
This ended Japan’s involvement in the Second World War, and the war itself.
Now images of a man who survived the attack have been posted online. Sumitery Taniguchi was 16 when the bomb hit the city. He was working at his job delivering letters, and was thrown from his bike by the impact, the epicentre of which was just over a mile away from him.
The blast from the five-tonne plutonium bomb, known as ‘Fat Man’, killed 70,000 people.
US MilitaryDazed from the explosion he wandered for three days, unaware of the severity of his injuries – his skin was hanging off his back. After he was rescued he spent the next 21 months lying on his stomach, receiving treatment for his decomposing flesh.
These days he still can’t fully straighten his left arm, while three of his ribs have half rotted away and press against his lungs. His wife rubs moisturising cream on his skin every day to help alleviate the irritation.
Taniguchi, now 86, revealed the images of his scars to highlight the devastating effect of nuclear weapons. He’s part of a Nagasaki survivors’ group that campaigns against nuclear proliferation.
Warning, these images are fairly graphic:
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APThe images serve as a brutal reminder of the human cost of war.
