15 Years On: Miyagi Police Resolved to Return Victims' Remains to Families

Sendai, Miyagi Pref., March 10 (Jiji Press)--The return of the bone fragments of a 6-year-old girl who went missing in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami came as a welcome surprise to her family in October last year, more than 14 years after the disaster.

The remains were identified as those of Natsuse Yamane by a unit in the first investigation division of the Miyagi Prefectural Police Headquarters. The unit was established in November 2011 to search for and investigate unidentified remains and people still missing after the catastrophe.

The episode renewed prefectural police officers' commitment to reuniting as many remains as possible with their families.

"Someone is waiting for each and every set of remains," says inspector Yuya Kyono, 43, who leads the unit. "Our mission is to return them to where they belong."

In February 2023, the Minamisanriku Police Station of the prefectural police received a report of what appeared to be a human bone. It had been found by workers at a company conducting sorting operations following cleanup work in the city of Kesennuma and the town of Minamisanriku, both located on the Pacific coast of Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]