Sumiteru Taniguchi, an influential survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki who was known for having experienced severe, scarlet-colored burns to his back, died of duodenal papilla cancer Wednesday, an A-bomb survivors' council said. He was 88.
Taniguchi, one of the chairpersons of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, barely escaped death in the Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing in the city, and stood at the forefront of antinuclear campaigning.
He testified to the horror of nuclear weapons, not only by recalling his memories of the atomic bombing three days after the Hiroshima attack but also through his body, which bore deep scars from the burns he suffered.