Tsutomu Yamaguchi | Survived A-bombs, 93

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, 93, the only person officially recognized as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings at the end of World War II, died Monday of stomach cancer in Tokyo.

Mr. Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip for his shipbuilding company on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city.

He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city.

He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki, about 190 miles to the southwest, which suffered a U.S. atomic-bomb attack three days later. On Aug. 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, ending the war.

The mayor of Nagasaki said that "a precious storyteller has been lost," in a message on the city's Web site.

In his later years, Mr. Yamaguchi gave talks about his experiences as an atomic-bomb survivor and often expressed his hope that such weapons would be abolished.

He spoke at the United Nations in 2006, wrote books and songs about his experiences, and appeared in a documentary about survivors of the attacks.
- AP