The Japanese and U.S. militaries launched another all-out search for the bodies of earthquake and tsunami victims Sunday along Japan's ravaged northeast coast.
About 22,000 Japanese troops, along with 110 from the U.S., searched by land, air and sea. Television news footage showed them using heavy equipment to lift a boat washed inland by the tsunami so they could search a crushed car underneath. No one was inside the car. The troops also used shovels to dig through mud. "
A month after the earthquake and tsunami, many people are still missing," said Japanese defense ministry spokesman Norikazu Muratani. "We would like to do our utmost to find bodies for their families."
As many as 25,000 people died in the March 11 disaster, but only 13,000 deaths have been confirmed. Many bodies have likely washed out to sea and will never be found.
A similar three-day search with even more troops a week ago found just 70 bodies, underscoring the difficulties of locating victims in the debris along the coast washed away by the tsunami.
The latest search was to last just one day and did not include the evacuation zone around the tsunami-flooded nuclear complex that is spewing radiation. Troops and police officers decked out in full protective gear continue the dangerous, painstaking work of searching the area closest to the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.