‘We shall not repeat the evil’

First sitting US president to visit Hiroshima honours ‘silent cry’ of bombing victims

71 years ago, death fell from the sky and the world was changed. The flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city Barack Obama

We come to mourn the dead. Their souls speak to us. They ask us to look inward, to take stock of who we are. Barack Obama

hiroshima — President Barack Obama on Friday paid moving tribute to victims of the first atomic bomb, offering a comforting embrace to a tearful man who survived the devastating attack on Hiroshima.

In a ceremony loaded with symbolism, the first sitting US president to visit the city clasped hands with one survivor and hugged another after speaking about the day that marked one of the most terrifying chapters of World War II.

“71 years ago, death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said of a bomb that “demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself ”.

“Why did we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in the not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead,” he said.

“Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil,” the president said.

With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe standing by his side and an iconic bombed-out domed building looming behind him, Obama urged the world to do better.

“We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell. We force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. We listen to a silent cry.” — Agencies