Hiroshima plea for 21st Century

Silent prayer punctuated only by the sound of tolling bells

Tens of thousands of people fell silent in Hiroshima on Sunday to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack.

It has been precisely 55 years since one single atomic bomb created a hell on earth

Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba

At precisely 0815 (0015 GMT), those gathered in the city's Peace Memorial Park and many more throughout Japan paused for one minute's silent prayer in memory of the 140,000 who died at, or shortly after, the same moment on 6 August 1945.

Hiroshima's Mayor, Tadatoshi Akiba, delivered the annual peace declaration calling for the city to become a model for demonstrating the use of science and technology for "human purposes".

Nuns stage a "die-in" protest against nuclear weapons in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome

"We will create a 21st Century in which Hiroshima's very existence formulates the substance of peace," he said.

Mayor Tadatoshi said the hope of abolishing nuclear weapons by the end of the last century had not been realised, but said the city would continue to work towards achieving peace on the international stage.

"Hiroshima aspires to serve as a mediator actively creating reconciliation by helping to resolve conflict and animosity," he said.

Still suffering

Japan's Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori, attending for the first time since assuming his post in April, said his heart went out to "the people who to this day continue to suffer from the after-effects of their exposure".

Japanese PM Yoshiro Mori (right) at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

On Saturday, the city said 5,021 people who were in Hiroshima on the day of the bombing had died since last year's anniversary. Their names have been added to a memorial to the victims, bringing the total number of names inscribed to 217,137.

Following the ceremony, 1,500 doves were released into the sky, while a choir of 300 children sang a song of peace.

Three days after the bomb named Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, the US dropped a second atom bomb on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 people. Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August, 1945.