Tokyo, April 01: Japanese authorities have announced that thousands of troops have begun searching for bodies of people listed as missing following the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that hit the country in March.
However, the aerial and maritime search operation would only be focused on the country’s north Pacific coastline, river mouths and land areas still submerged in sea water, a Japanese ground forces official said.
The search will not cover the 30-kilometer (19-mile) radius of the stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, where radiation levels reportedly remain high.
“Bodies washed out to the sea usually sink first. But they usually float again a few weeks later. So the sweep will be mainly for them,” AFP quoted the official as saying on Friday.
At least 11,532 people have been confirmed dead and about 16,441 others still missing following the March 11 calamity.
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station said radioactivity in groundwater below the station measured 10,000 times the legal threshold.
The Japanese government has evacuated residents within a 20-kilometer radius of the plant.
More than 70,000 have been evacuated from the exclusion ring and another 136,000, who live in a 10-km (6-mile) zone beyond that, have been encouraged to leave or stay indoors.
Meanwhile, more than 172,400 people were still living in shelters around northeastern Japan.
——-Agencies