Efforts are under way to exhume the remains of atomic bomb victims who died and were buried on a small island in Hiroshima Bay.
On Monday, 78-year-old Kazushi Kaneko, head of an association of atomic bomb victims' groups in Hiroshima Prefecture, visited Ninoshima Island to inspect the excavation work. Two other members of the association also made the trip.
"It's unacceptable that the remains have been left unattended for as long as 59 years. I prayed so that the (A-bomb victims) can rest in peace," Kaneko told reporters after the visit.