Hiroshima atomic bomb attack survivor and Japanese campaigner against nuclear weapons, Sunao Tsuboi has died at the age of 96. Tsuboi died on October 24 in a hospital in Hiroshima in southwestern Japan due to an irregular heartbeat caused by anaemia, an official statement said.
Sunao Tsuboi had developed cancer and other illnesses over the years as a side effect of the radiation he came in contact with due to the atomic bomb attack. He spend periods of his working life in hospital being treated for anaemia. When former US President Barack Obama made his historic visit to Hiroshima, he met Tsuboi.
Some 140,000 people were killed in the Hiroshima attacks and being an atomic attack survivor Sunao Tsuboi dedicated his entire life to campaigning to eradicate nuclear arms.
How Tsuboi survived Hiroshima?
Tsuboi was 20 years old when he miraculously survived the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, during World War II.
Tsuboi was on his way to college when he was caught in the blast which led to burns all over his body with a part of his ear was gone.Â
Naked, he tried to run away for about three hours on August 6 but finally could no longer walk and fell down on the ground unconscious.
The 20-year-old Tsuboi, then an engineering student emerged from unconsciousness 40 days after the bombing when the war was over.
Tsuboi was so weak and scarred that he had to start by practicing crawling on the floor after he returned back to his consciousness.
Sunao Tsuboi went on to teach mathematics at schools in Japan, telling youngsters about his experiences during the war.
‘Never give up’ was Sunao Tsuboi’s trademark phrase, especially for his fight for a world without nuclear weapons.
