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Nagasaki marks 70th anniversary of atomic bombing

CORRECTS THE NUMBER OF THE VICTIMS- A Catholic offers prayers at an early morning mass to pay respect to the victims of the Nagasaki atomic bombing at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015. Ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing will start late this morning. The atomic bomb attack on this city that left more than 70,000 dead and hastened the end of World War II exactly 70 years ago.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) CORRECTS THE NUMBER OF THE VICTIMS- A Catholic offers prayers at an early morning mass to pay respect to the victims of the Nagasaki atomic bombing at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015. Ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing will start late this morning. The atomic bomb attack on this city that left more than 70,000 dead and hastened the end of World War II exactly 70 years ago.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

By Associated Press August 8, 2015 1 min read

NAGASAKI, Japan (AP) – A ceremony is underway in Nagasaki to mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the southern Japanese city.

Survivors, international guests and others gathered on a sunny Sunday morning for the annual commemoration.

They will observe a moment of silence at 11:02 a.m., the time when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb, killing more than 70,000 people and prompting Japan’s World War II surrender. The first atomic bomb in Hiroshima three days earlier killed 140,000.

The city’s mayor is expected to renew his call for a world without nuclear weapons.