80 Years Since the Hiroshima Disaster

SadaNews - Bells rang in Hiroshima on Wednesday morning, marking the anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped by an American bomber on the Japanese city 80 years ago, the first nuclear attack in history which led to Japan's surrender and the end of World War II.

Hiroshima commemorated the 80th anniversary of the United States dropping an atomic bomb on the Japanese city on Wednesday with a ceremony attended by representatives from over one hundred countries, during which attendees observed a minute of silence for the occasion.

On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber named "Enola Gay" flew at a high altitude over the city before dropping a uranium bomb with a destructive power equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT, killing an estimated 140,000 people from the immediate blast and subsequent radiation.

Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, another American bomber dropped a plutonium bomb on the coastal city of Nagasaki, resulting in the deaths of 74,000 people.

These two bombs dealt a fatal blow to the Japanese Empire, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, thus bringing an end to World War II.