A memorial ceremony is underway in Nagasaki to mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing which killed tens of thousands in the final phrase of WWII.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US ambassador Caroline Kennedy are attending the event at the city's Peace Park. Bells rang as survivors, relatives of victims and others remember the devastating blast...which happened at 11:02 am local time on August the 9th 1945.

About 74,000 people died in the explosion. The attack came three days after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people.

The twin bombings dealt the final blow to Imperial Japan, which surrendered on August the 15th that year, bringing an end to World War 2.