Japan Nuclear Plant: 2 Missing Fukushima Workers Found Dead

A massive tsunami that crippled a nuclear power plant also killed two workers there, the Japanese operator announced Sunday, confirming the first deaths at the complex.

The two workers – a 21-year-old and a 24-year-old – had been missing since a massive March 11 earthquake spawned the wave, but their bodies were discovered only last week. Engineers have been scrambling to restore power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in order to restart cooling systems and stabilize dangerously overheating reactors.

"It pains me that these two young workers were trying to protect the power plant while being hit by the earthquake and tsunami," Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said in a statement.

Japan Told To Consider Widening Evacuation Zone Around Nuclear Plant

Pressure mounted on Japan on Thursday to expand the evacuation zone around its stricken nuclear power plant while officials said radiation may be flowing continuously into the nearby sea, where contamination was now 4,000 times the legal limit.

In the first data on the impact of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear crisis, Japanese manufacturing slumped the most on record in March as factories shut down and global supply chains were broken.

The damage to the world's third-biggest economy from the quake and tsunami alone could cost more than $300 billion, making it the world's costliest natural disaster, and a report from a Wall Street investment bank said nuclear-related compensation claims could reach more than $130 billion.

Both the U.N. nuclear watchdog and Japan's nuclear safety agency said the government should consider widening the 20-km (12-mile) zone after high radiation was detected at twice that distance from the facility.