Mass Exodus At Tokyo Airport, Indians Head Home

Mangaloretoday News Network

Tokyo, March 16: A large number of Indians stood in queues at the Narita International airport here  on Wednesday in their desperate move to return home.

The exodus of foreign nationals from Japan has been trigerred by the series of fires and explosions at the trouble-ridden Fukushima nuclear power plant, and people throughout Japan are fearing that a huge amount of radiation may emanate from Ground Zero and head towards populated cities.

Those left behind are praying for the wind to save them from a new radiation nightmare.

The airport of Japan’s quake-hit capital was besieged as levels of the invisible killer (radiation) soared to ten times the normal level there

Weathermen predicted a looming change in the wind could send a deadly plume over Tokyo.

Nuclear analyst John Large said of the threat from the skies: "Particles will be encased in water droplets, making the ground radioactive."

Drivers queued at petrol stations for up to ten hours to fill their tanks and flee - ignoring official reassurances that contamination was still low and they were not in danger.

According to The Sun, Banker Matt Saunderson, 33 - among Brits determined to get families clear - said: "I’m sending my wife and children home.

"It doesn’t matter what the Japanese authorities are saying - when it comes to nuclear fallout, or the risk of it, I’m not taking chances with my kids."

Those frantic to jet home found flights to London booked solid for the next two weeks.

Banker Matt, from Guildford in Surrey, said: "The city feels eerie and scared."

Fellow Brit David Williams said after sending his own family out of the city: "If the wind does change as predicted it will be blowing towards Tokyo.

"Like Japanese people, I don’t believe what we are being told. I’m worried information is being kept from the public. I have a bag packed by the door and I have a motorbike to avoid the crowds."

Ten-year-old Lucy Niver said as she jetted home to the US: "I’m scared."

America has advised citizens to avoid travel to Japan. US Navy reinforcements sent to help the tsunami rescue effort were arriving to the west - after ships based off the east coast recorded increased radiation.

On Tuesday, China began evacuating all 22,155 of its citizens from Japan’s north-east - most of them factory workers.

Austria was moving its Tokyo embassy 250 miles to Osaka. France recommended citizens leave the Japanese capital, which yesterday saw an orgy of panic-buying by residents who fear they may be ordered to hole up indoors.

The multi-storey Don Quixote store in Roppongi district sold out of radios, torches, candles and sleeping bags.

Confusion about how to combat the reactor meltdowns appeared to reign - with claims Japan’s PM was angrily forced to order the Tokyo Electric Power Company not to pull crews out.