HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) — The number of atomic-bombing victims, or “hibakusha,” in Hiroshima totaled 557,478, research by the municipal government showed Saturday.

The latest figure rose by around 15,000 from the previous tally 14 years ago as the local government made a fresh review of 120,000 documents by using computers for the first time.

Of the 557,478, 384,743 were confirmed to have been in the city or nearby towns and villages when the A-bomb was dropped, up around 12,000 from the previous survey. The remainder includes people who later entered areas near the center of the explosion and those without sufficient information about their situations.

The death toll from the 1945 A-bombing was lowered to 277,996, from the previously reported 280,959, as duplications were found.

A city official suggested the latest study will be the last one as 68 years have passed since the bombing and it is unlikely new documents will be discovered.

Keiko Otani, an assistant professor at Hiroshima University’s Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine who took part in the study, said the latest research now encompasses almost all those who died in the bombing or afterwards from its effects, or developed health problems.

“From now on, we will study how radiation affected people in the early days (after the blast) by examining the circumstances of A-bomb survivors and when they died,” she said.