Hiroshima Survivor and Active Campaigner Dies at 96

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Hiroshima A-bomb survivor Sunao Tsuboi, who became a prominent campaigner for nuclear disarmament, has died aged 96, his advocacy group announced on Wednesday.

Tsuboi was on his way to engineering school in 1945 when the first nuclear bomb was dropped by the United States. 

"I suffered burns all over my body," he told AFP in 2016. "Naked, I tried to run away for about three hours on August 6 but finally could no longer walk."

Then aged 20, he picked up a small rock and wrote on the ground "Tsuboi dies here," before losing consciousness and waking up several weeks later.

He later developed cancer and other diseases but became a prominent advocate for atomic bomb survivors and a lifelong campaigner for a nuclear-free world.

"I can tolerate hardships for the sake of human happiness. I may die tomorrow, but I'm optimistic. I will never give up. We want zero nuclear weapons," he said.

Tsuboi "passed away on Saturday due to anemia," an official from Nihon Hidankyo -- a group that represents survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

There are 127,755 survivors of both attacks still alive and their average age is 84, according to the Japanese Ministry of Health.

Around 140,000 people died in the US bombing of Hiroshima, a toll that includes those who survived the explosion but died soon after from radiation exposure.

Three days later, the US dropped a plutonium bomb on the port city of Nagasaki, killing about 74,000 more people.