Hiroshima A-bomb toll raised

Osaka (IANS): The Japanese city of Hiroshima released a new report Thursday about the actual damage from the 1945 atomic bombing, updating the total number of victims to 557,478. This was more than 15,000 people recorded in the previous file, reports Xinhua. The report was compiled as part of the city's more than 30-year-old investigative project on the victims, focusing on demographic changes in recent decades. The released data was based on the latest tallies, calculated until 2011 with 120,000 additional historical sources such as medical treatment notes and necrologies, according to the research division of the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Department at the Hiroshima City Office. The report also updated the actual number of "direct victims" of the atomic bombing � those who were within the city and its neighboring towns and villages � to 384,743, while the number of victims who have died so far is 277,996, less than the 280,959 indicated by previous data in 1999. Kaoru Ohsugi, director of the division, told Xinhua that since there were still different ways to interpret the numbers concerning the A-bomb victims and damage, the division decided to update the figures, collecting new information and checking the details using computers. "Considering the remaining time the survivors have to live and the verification procedures we can use, this report may be the last edition the city officially issues," Ohsugi said.