UENO, Gunma Pref. (Kyodo) Kin floated paper lanterns down a river Wednesday evening in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, to remember the victims of the 1985 Japan Airlines Corp. jumbo jet crash on its 25th anniversary.

Prior to 6:56 p.m., the time when the JAL Boeing 747 heading to Osaka from Tokyo crashed on Osutaka Ridge and killed all but four of the 524 passengers and crew members aboard, some 100 relatives floated around 300 lanterns, which carried messages to the deceased, on the Kanna River, as part of an annual remembrance.

The 520 victims included popular singer Kyu Sakamoto, 43, and Hajimu Nakano, 63, president of the professional baseball team Hanshin Tigers, while all of the four survivors are women, then aged between 8 and 34.