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Officials warn cooling pumps failing at third unit at plant in north-east of country, leaving fuel rods exposed The nuclear crisis in Japan’s stricken north-east escalated as officials admitted a third nuclear reactor could be in partial meltdown and warned the situation was “even worse” than in the other two stricken units. It followed a second dramatic hydrogen explosion at the plant. The announcement came as the official death toll from the worst earthquake and tsunami in Japan’s recorded history reached almost 1,900, with tens of thousands still unaccounted for. Millions of survivors struggled through another day with dwindling supplies of food and fuel, amid aftershocks, blazes and tsunami alerts. News of the blast at the Fukushima No 1 power plant, which blew the walls off another reactor unit, alarmed many. But experts were more concerned by the repeated exposure of fuel rods after cooling pumps failed in a third reactor, causing possible meltdown. “Although we cannot directly check it, it’s highly likely happening,” Yukio Edano, the chief government spokesman, told reporters. As Tokyo struggled to handle the spiralling crisis it asked both the United Nations nuclear watchdog for expert help and the US nuclear regulatory commission for equipment. Officials also began to distribute potassium iodide, which can help inhibit the uptake of radioactive iodide by the thyroid, to evacuation centres. They have already evacuated hundreds of thousands of residents within a 12-mile radius of the facility. But Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stressed that it was “unlikely that the accident would develop” like Chernobyl, and said the reactor vessels remained intact. Officials in Japan had earlier suggested one might have been breached. Several countries announced they would screen Japanese produce for radiation as a precaution. US officials said military personnel taking part in rescue efforts registered low levels of radioactive contamination after flying by helicopter back to their ships off the Japanese coast. They were cleared after a scrub-down but the ships moved position as a precaution. But the desperate shortage of supplies was a more immediate concern for the millions facing a fourth night in near-freezing temperatures. The Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that many emergency shelters were running out of food and fuel, leaving weakened survivors cold and hungry. “People are surviving on little food and water. Things are simply not coming,” Hajime Sato, a government official in Iwate, told Associated Press. He said the prefecture was receiving just a tenth of the food and supplies it needed. “We just did not expect such a thing to happen. It’s just overwhelming,” he said. With aftershocks of up to magnitude 6.1 continuing, survivors fled to high ground in the morning as sirens blared and broadcasters announced a tsunami alert. It later proved to be a false alarm. But Friday’s 8.9-magnitude quake and tsunami have already left around 1,000 bodies on shores of the Oshika Peninsula and another 1,000 bodies in Minamisanriku, according to officials and police in Miyagi province. Around 9,500 people remain uncontactable in the latter town. The Kyodo news agency also said police and firefighters were still trying to recover 200 to 300 bodies in Sendai. In Iwate prefecture, around 8,000 inhabitants are missing from one small town, Otsuchi. Thousands were also missing in Soma, a city of 38,000 people, according to officials. On Monday, David Cameron told MPs there were “severe concerns” about the safety of several British nationals in Japan, but no confirmed fatalities. In a statement to the Commons, the prime minister said the devastation in Japan was of “truly colossal proportions”. The country’s ailing economy, overtaken by China as the world’s second largest last year, is also struggling with the impact of the disaster. The central bank injected 15tr yen(£113bn) into money markets to stabilise the situation. But the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average slid 6.2%. Several manufacturers and retailers suspended or reduced operations due to damage to the infrastructure in the north-east or to help reduce demand for electricity in the area around Tokyo. Most of the predicted blackouts to preserve power did not prove necessary, but some areas in the capital had electricity cut for a few hours. AP reported that the outspoken governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, had described the disaster as a “punishment from heaven” because the Japanese had become greedy. Japan earthquake and tsunami Natural disasters and extreme weather Japan Nuclear power Justin McCurry Tania Branigan Ian Sample guardian.co.uk