Japanese Bomb Survivor

Japan has announced that ninety three year old Tsutoma Yumaguchi is the only known survivor of two atomic bomb attacks at the end of World War II.

On 6th of August, 1945, Mr Yumaguchi (to the right), who was a young business man in his twenties was in Hiroshima on a business trip when a US plane dropped the first atomic bomb. Mr Yumaguchi stepped off a tram just as the bomb went off. Even though he was 3km away he was temporarily blinded and the blast completely destroyed his left eardrum. He suffered from serious burns on the top half of his body and spent the night in Hiroshima before going back home to Nagasaki, just before the second atomic bomb was dropped there on 9th of August, 1945. The second attack took place when he was in an office talking to his boss about his experience when miraculously the same event happened. Again he was 3km away from the centre of the bomb.

Earlier this week, officials recognised that he had witnessed both attacks. As a result of this he will now qualify for government compensation such as free health check-ups and funeral costs. However, being in both attacks does not mean Mr Yamaguchi's compensation will increase, a Nagasaki official said.

"My double exposure is now an official government record," Mr Yamaguchi explained. "I can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die."

It is estimated that 140,000 people were killed in the first attack in Hiroshima and 70,000 people in the second attack, in Nagasaki.

Reported by Gemma and Katie