70-years ago, on 9th August 1945, America dropped its second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. It was the third day of the biggest nuclear war in the world history. 86-years-old Sumitery Taniguchi is one among the millions of victims of that tragic atomic blast. The elderly man reveals his story and the effects of that unfortunate incident that he lived with all his life.
Taniguchi was just 16 years old when the five-tonne plutonium bomb, known as the 'Fat Man', exploded 500 metres above his home city of Nagasaki, on the western side on the Japanese island of Kyushu.
Even after 70 years, he is unable to straighten his left arm. His wife rubs moisturising cream onto his scars every morning to reduce the irritation.
Three of his ribs half rotted away following the attack and still press against his lungs, leaving unnatural dents and swellings in his scrawny chest.
After being rescued, he spent the next 21 months lying on his stomach, receiving treatment for his burned back, decomposing flesh and exposed bones.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, he could hear nurses walking in the hallway outside his room, asking one another if the boy inside was still breathing.
He lay immobile for so long that his teenage arm bones grew and blocked the joint, disabling his arm for the rest of his life.
He has revealed his scars as part of his work with the Nagasaki survivors' group that he leads, in the struggle against nuclear proliferation.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed over 129,000 people and wounded many thousands more.
Six days after these brutal attacks, Japan surrendered and the war ended transforming the land into a ghost town where those who survived, their wounds remind them of that tragedy.
Mr. Sumitery Taniguchi and his group hope that no one will ever suffer the pain of a nuclear blast again.
Credit: Daily Mail Online