YAIZU, Japan, Feb 29, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX)

Survivors and peace activists Monday marked 50 years since 23 crew members of a Japanese trawler were irradiated by the blast from a U.S. hydrogen bomb.

Peace activists will mark the anniversary by laying flowers at the grave of Aikichi Kuboyama, chief radio operator of the Fukuryu Maru, in Yaizu, Japan, the Kyodo news service reported. Activists say the crew of the Fukury Maru, and the residents of Rongelap Island, were irradiated by the blast from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954.

Kuboyama died a half-year after the fallout from the blast when he ...