Fukushima prefectural police, working with a firefighting team, on Dec. 29 mounted this year’s last major search in coastal areas of the prefecture for those still missing following the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Fukushima prefectural police, working with a firefighting team, on Dec. 29 mounted this year’s last major search in coastal areas of the prefecture for those still missing following the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
About 360 police officers and firefighters participated in the search, which will run until Dec. 30.
The operation covers seaside areas from Shinchi-machi down to Iwaki, including the no-entry zone within a 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
In the Ukedo fishing port of Namie, about 7 kilometers from the plant, police wearing protective gear combed the area between the breakwater and the rocks for bodies.
“Residents cannot enter the no-entry zone even though they want to search the area for their loved ones,” Mitsuhiro Matsumoto, head of the prefectural police department, said. “With their desperation in mind, we will conduct this search.”
The number of those listed as missing in the prefecture was 218 as of Dec. 29. According to the National Police Agency, the number for the entire nation stood at 3,451. Major searches for this year have been completed in the disaster-stricken prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi.