Japanese police are racing to find thousands of missing bodies before they decompose along the northeastern coast.

More than 14,700 people are still missing since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Many are believed to have washed out to sea, and are unlikely to ever be recovered.

Heavy machinery has been called in to sift through the mounds of tangled debris, but the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant has hindered the search. A 12-mile evacuation zone nearby has largely been unsearchable due to radiation seeping from the troubled nuclear plant. Officials dressed head to toe in protective gear have dug through the rubble where they can, but the dangerous conditions have dramatically slowed progress.

Officials are concerned that time is quickly running out to find bodies before they are decomposed beyond recognition. The death toll is ultimately expected to rise as high as 25,000.

The U.S. State Department confirmed the second death of an American in the Japanese disaster last week.