Hiroshima held its annual ceremony to commemorate the 67^th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb by the US on Monday.

At 8:15 a.m, the time the bomb was dropped in 1945, a toll from the Peace Bell set off a minutes silence to commemorate the victims. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said at the ceremony that Japan will do everything in its power to achieve a peaceful nuclear-free world. Regarding the nuclear crisis in Fukushima last year, Noda said that the government is trying its best to stabilize local people’s lives. The number of deaths resulting from the atomic bomb’s aftermath over the past year was announced in the ceremony. According to statistics, nearly 5,800 people died in the past year, raising the total of deaths caused by the atomic bomb to 280,000.