Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor Shigeaki Mori dies at 88

Shigeaki Mori, the Hiroshima survivor embraced by former U.S. President Barack Obama during his historic 2016 visit, has died at the age of 88, Japanese media reported.

Mori was eight years old when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, an attack that flattened the city and left him unconscious from the blast, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Over the following decades, Mori dedicated his life to documenting the victims of the bombing, including identifying those cremated at his school playground and even 12 Americans who died in the attack.

The 2016 photo of Obama embracing a tearful Mori at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park became a defining moment of the first-ever visit by a sitting U.S. president to the city, symbolizing reconciliation and remembrance.

Mori passed away in a Hiroshima hospital on March 14. His death marks the loss of one of the last voices directly connecting the world to the devastating events of Hiroshima.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada