NAGASAKI — Nagasaki fell silent on Wednesday to mark the 81st anniversary of the United States atomic bombing that killed tens of thousands, with survivors, national leaders and foreign envoys gathering at the city's Peace Park. Bells tolled at 11.02am, the moment the bomb detonated on August 9, 1945.

The ceremony followed Hiroshima's commemoration earlier in the week and drew ageing survivors, known as hibakusha, whose average age now exceeds 86. Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki delivered a peace declaration urging nuclear-armed states to abandon their arsenals. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attended and addressed the gathering.

City organisers invited representatives from dozens of countries, including nuclear powers and states that have not joined the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Nihon Hidankyo, the survivors' organisation awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, has pressed Tokyo to sign the treaty, a step successive Japanese governments have declined while sheltering under the US nuclear umbrella.

The anniversary coincided with heightened global tension, including renewed US warnings to Iran over its nuclear programme and the continuing war in Ukraine. Suzuki referenced those crises, echoing Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui's warning that the taboo against nuclear weapons was eroding.

"As long as nuclear weapons exist, humanity faces the threat of annihilation," hibakusha groups said in a joint statement ahead of the ceremony, calling on world leaders to visit the city and hear survivors' testimony.