Lucky
Escape?
Intermediate
On August 6, 1945, Tsutomi
Yamaguchi was on a business trip in Hiroshima. That day a
US plane dropped the first atomic bomb.
Mr Yamaguchi was out on a street near the centre of the
city. He survived the explosion but was badly burned.
After a night in hospital, Mr
Yamaguchi spent the next day
walking through the destroyed city. That evening he managed
to catch a train to his home town.
Angry
Boss
The next morning he went back to work. His boss was
furious. ‘Where have you been?’ he shouted.
‘Why weren’t you back yesterday?’
‘I was in Hiroshima when the bomb hit,’ said Mr
Yamaguchi.
But the Japanese media had not reported the explosion. And
his boss did not believe Mr Yamaguchi’s story.
‘Bomb?’ he said. ‘Don’t be
ridiculous! Those stupid bandages don’t fool
anyone!’
‘There was a bomb,’ said Mr Yamaguchi.
‘It destroyed the whole city. I was lucky to
escape!’
‘Rubbish!’ said his boss, banging his fist down
on the desk. ‘You’re lying!’
Second
Bomb
At that moment there was a blinding flash. The second
atomic bomb had struck.
High above Mr Yamaguchi’s office there was another
American plane. It was flying away from his home city
– Nagasaki.
Mr
Yamaguchi is now 93. 
He is the only living
person to have survived both atomic bombs. Incredibly
he was less than three kilometres from the centre of
the explosion in each case.
About 140,000
people were killed in Hiroshima. 70,000 died in Nagasaki.
Many more later died from radiation-related
illnesses
