Volunteers searching for the remains of those killed in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa demand Japan’s defence ministry call a halt to work

Millions of cubic metres of soil due to be used to build a controversial US airbase on the Japanese island of Okinawa contains the remains of Japanese and Americans who died in one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific war, according to citizen excavators.

The volunteers, who search for the bones of people killed or who killed themselves during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, have demanded that Japan’s defence ministry end work to clear the land, calling it an affront to the dignity of the war dead.