Grim discovery could more than double official death count
The Kyodo News reports that the official death toll of 1,597 is set to jump dramatically following Friday’s devastating earthquake in Japan after the discovery of approximately 1,000 bodies found coming ashore on hardest-hit Miyagi’s Ojika Peninsula. Another 1,000 have been spotted in the virtually obliterated town of Minamisanriku, where the prefectural government has been unable to contact about 10,000 people, or over half the local population. The situation is so grim, that the Miyagi prefectural government has decided to ask for help from other prefectures as work to cremate bodies is falling behind.