Beneath the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound are the ashes of an estimated 70,000 people killed in Hiroshima. Their corpses were too charred to identify. Mourners often leave glasses or bottles of water near the hill because the burns and heat caused by the blast caused an incredible thirst. Many victims begged for water as they died. Thousands of others perished in the nearby Otagawa River while trying to escape the intense fires.
