25th anniversary of Tokyo sarin gas attack comemmorated

TIL Desk/World/Tokyo/ Japan on Friday commemorated the 25th anniversary of the sarin gas attack carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo, or Supreme Truth, cult in the Tokyo subway, the deadliest incident in the country”s modern history.

At Kasumigaseki, one of the hardest hit subway stations, a minute of silence was observed at 8 a.m., the time the attack took place on March 25, 1995 and in which 14 people were killed, dozens were left in a vegetative state and 6,300 were injured.

A total of 13 people died before the end of 1996 while the 14th victim, Sachiko Asakawa, who was left bedridden with severe brain damage after the attack, died this month at the age of 56. Stands were set up at six subway stations for those wished to offer flowers such as 73-year-old Shizue Takahashi, who lost her husband, Kazumasa, then deputy head of the Kasumigaseki station, in the attack.