The company that runs a stricken Japanese nuclear power plant says the bodies of two workers have been found, three weeks after an earthquake and tsunami struck the facility.
The announcement from Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is the first confirmation of deaths at the Fukushima plant, where the workers had been missing since March 11.Spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the bodies - of a 21-year-old and a 24-year-old - were not found until March 31 and had to be decontaminated.
"It pains me that these two young workers were trying to protect the power plant while being hit by the earthquake and tsunami," Tepco chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said in a statement.
The announcement of the death was delayed out of consideration for the families, Mr Tsunoda said.
The men sustained multiple external injuries and are believed to have died from blood loss, Mr Tsunoda added.
On Saturday, authorities said a source of at least some of the radiation was determined when a crack in a maintenance pit was found, but contaminated water still drained into the Pacific Ocean after attempts to seal it with concrete failed.
"The crack was apparently caused by the quake and may have been leaking since then," Tepco's Osamu Yokokura said.
A search of the plant on Sunday found no other similar leaks leading directly to the ocean.
People living within 12 miles (20 km) of the plant have been evacuated, but, as with previous leaks, it could pose a danger to workers.
Sky News correspondent Holly Williams said radiation in the sea near the plant was currently more than 4,000 times the legal limit.
"On land, they're resorting to drastic solutions but the company was also trying to funnel the radioactive water into a floating containment vessel," she said.