Six Japanese have sued the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant for damages because of their cancer.

Their lawyers filed a class action lawsuit against nuclear operator Tepco in a Tokyo district court on Thursday.

The plaintiffs, who are now between 17 and 27 years old, attribute their thyroid cancer to the nuclear disaster of 2011.

Together they are demanding the equivalent of 4.8 million euros in compensation.

This is the first class action lawsuit of its kind against Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco).

The plaintiffs were living in the Fukushima region when, on March 11, 2011, as a result of a violent earthquake and tsunami, several core meltdowns occurred in the reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and radioactivity was released.

A panel of experts set up by the regional government did not recognize a link between the radiation released in the nuclear accident and thyroid cancer.

Whether there is a connection should be a central point of the court hearing.

A report released by the United Nations last year concluded that the Fukushima nuclear disaster had not directly harmed residents' health a decade after the disaster.

A higher rate of thyroid cancer among children exposed to radiation is believed to be due to more stringent diagnoses, the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Nuclear Radiation concluded.

The lawyers for the plaintiffs point out that none of the cancers is hereditary.

It is highly likely that the disease was caused by the radiation.

The plaintiffs were between six and 16 years old at the time of the nuclear disaster and were diagnosed with thyroid cancer between 2012 and 2018.

Two of them had part of their thyroids removed, while the other four had their thyroid glands removed completely.

They have to take medication for the rest of their lives.

The Fukushima meltdown was the most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

The earthquake and tsunami killed around 19,000 people.

At that time, tens of thousands of people from the vicinity of the nuclear power station had to leave the area or did so voluntarily.

A Tepco spokesman told AFP the company would respond "sincerely" to the lawsuit after reviewing the claims.

Tepco once again apologizes "deeply for the concerns caused by the accident" in the population and especially among the residents of Fukushima.