Only survivor of two atomic bombs dies

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only man officially recognised as a survivor of both atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, has died at the age of 93. Working for Mitsubishi as a draftsman designing oil tankers during the war, Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip when the Little Boy bomb was dropped on the city. He suffered serious burns and spent a night there before returning to his home city of Nagasaki before Fat Man was dropped on it just three days later. Although several people are believed to have survived both blasts Yamaguchi was the only one to gain official status as a double hibakusha - literally, 'explosion-affected person'.

After the war Yamaguchi became a firm proponent of nuclear disarmament, and in later life sought recognition of his double-victim status - granted in March of last year - so, in his own words, that "it can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die."

The circumstances surrounding the dropping of atomic bombs over Japan in the dying days of the Second World War - still the only occasion that they have been deployed in the history of warfare - is still a matter of controversy, with those defending the decision arguing that any land invasion of a Japan which had been until that point entirely unwilling to surrender would have resulted in a far greater loss of life.

But Yamguchi's story is a poignant record of the horrors of war. An unassuming civilian, the life of the man from Nagasaki was forever changed - like so many others - by the destructive capabilities of human hatred. If their lives are to have some meaning the scrapping of all nuclear weapons would be a worthy testament to their suffering.