Yamaguchi had spent three months in Hiroshima working on the design of an oil tanker for Mitsubishi.
Yamaguchi reached Nagasaki on August 8. Then, at 11.02am on August 9, another American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. He received this recognition in 2009, when he was 93. In 2006, he appeared in a documentary about people who had survived both atomic bombings. In a 2009 interview, he said that having his double exposure officially recorded could help future generations understand the horror of the atomic bombings. He died in Nagasaki on January 4, 2010, at the age of 93.
Because he was close to the blast in both cities, but Yamaguchi was unusual. Because he was untouched by them, but because he lived through two attacks that happened just three days apart, his story has since become one of the best-known accounts of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, not. As reported by the The Guardian, Japanese records showed that dozens of people had been in Hiroshima and were later exposed to residual radiation in Nagasaki.
He was telling his supervisor about what had happened in Hiroshima, according to various media reports. This time the weapon was “Fat Man”, a plutonium bomb. The two atomic attacks together killed around two lakh people, most of them civilians, according to various media accounts.
He had burns wrapped in bandages, but returned to work at Mitsubishi the next morning. His account was reportedly met with disbelief: how, the supervisor wondered, could one bomb have destroyed an entire city? Yamaguchi was again caught in the blast. He was thrown to the ground, but survived for a second time. His wife and infant son, who were also in Nagasaki, survived the bombing as well. The family spent the following days in a shelter near what remained of their home. The Nagasaki bombing killed tens of thousands of people. Yamaguchi was not the only person to have experienced both bombings. Japanese authorities eventually officially recognised him as a survivor of both atomic bombings. He later travelled to the United Nations and spoke about the dangers of nuclear weapons. As he grew older, Yamaguchi increasingly spoke about his experiences. He also wrote about his experiences and became an advocate for nuclear disarmament. Yamaguchi lived for more than six decades after surviving two nuclear attacks. Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.
On August 6, 1945, Tsutomu Yamaguchi was preparing to leave Hiroshima. Yamaguchi, then a 29-year-old engineer working for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is officially recognised by Japanese authorities as the only known person to have survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. August 6 was supposed to be his final day in the city. Yamaguchi and two colleagues, Akira Iwanaga and Kuniyoshi Sato, were preparing to return to Nagasaki on August 7, according to The Guardian and various media reports. The bomb detonated about 580 metres above central Hiroshima.
American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy”. That decision put him in Hiroshima when the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” shortly after 8.15am. His three-month work assignment was over, and he was ready to return home to Nagasaki, where his wife and infant son were waiting. Instead, he found himself at the centre of one of the most devastating attacks in history. Three days later, after making it back to Nagasaki with serious burns, Yamaguchi was caught in another atomic bombing. He survived both. Yamaguchi had spent three months in Hiroshima working on the design of an oil tanker for Mitsubishi. They had collected their belongings and were heading towards the railway station when Yamaguchi realised that he had left his personal seal at the office. He turned back. Yamaguchi was within roughly three kilometres of the blast, as per various media accounts. The explosion knocked him to the ground. He suffered severe burns and injuries, including damage to his hearing. The destruction around him was immense. The Hiroshima attack killed tens of thousands of people immediately, with many more dying from injuries and radiation exposure in the weeks and months that followed. Yamaguchi survived the initial explosion. He found his two colleagues, and the three spent the night in an air-raid shelter. The following day, they made their way to the railway station and travelled back to Nagasaki. Yamaguchi’s life did not end with the bombings. After World War II, he worked for the US occupation authorities, later became a teacher and eventually returned to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. A profile of his life published by Nagasaki University records that he worked as an English teacher before returning to Mitsubishi, where he continued working on tanker production until retirement. He later travelled to the United Nations and spoke about the dangers of nuclear weapons.
He later recalled seeing an enormous flash before the blast hit.
