Japan's "Fukushima 50" get reinforcements

Reinforcements joined the emergency crew struggling with the overheating reactors in north-eastern Japan Friday, the plant's operator said.

The "Fukushima 50," as they have become known, were the only staff left when the Fukushima nuclear plant was evacuated after Friday's magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami took out the cooling systems and the reactors started to overheat.

A total of 120 crew were now on site, a representative of Tokyo Electric Power Company told the German Press Agency dpa.

The reinforcements included specialists from other nuclear companies, he said.