Lancashire quake team find no survivors in Japan (From Preston and Leyland Citizen)

Lancashire quake team find no survivors in Japan

12:05pm Wednesday 16th March 2011 in News By David Watkinson, Deputy news editor

FLASHBACK The team before they set off

LANCASHIRE firefighters have been unable to find any survivors so far in two days of ‘grim’ searches of the tsunami-battered Japanese coast.

Six men from the county are part of the 63-strong UK International Search and Rescue team which flew out to Japan at the weekend.

After landing at the US military base of Misawa, they set up camp in Ofunato, 75 miles south, which has a population of 42,000. They are based at a school building on high ground.

Mr Barnes’ wife, Pam, had an update from the disaster zone by satellite phone yesterday. She said: “It is very grim. So far they are looking for survivors, but there has been no good news yet.”

A fire service spokesman said the teams are also assisting with removing bodies from the devastation.

There are also fears over the Fukushima nuclear power station, which is just 130km from where they are based.

Currently the exclusion zone is at 20km.