withdraw their workers from the plant. >> narrator: at that moment in fukushima, the plant manager, masao yoshida, had gathered all the workers together. >> (translated): yoshida said, "starting now, we are going to evacuate." at that point, yoshida was resigned to his fate. i'm sure he was prepared to die himself, but he couldn't kill 250 people. so he said, "just go home. we'vdone this much. we can do no more. just go home." >> (translated): it's probably bad to admit it, but i was relieved. i just wanted to get out. >> narrator: meanwhile, the prime minister was arriving at tepco headquarters in tokyo, determined to stop total withdrawal. he demanded to speak to tepco's executives. via a video-link, he was watched by the engineers in fukushima. >> narrator: to this day, there is controversy about what tepco intended. the company executives say they never planned to completely abandon the plant. >> narrator: that morning, tepco evacuated all but a skeleton crew, led by plant manager yoshida. the remaining men were to become known as the fukushima fifty. for now, they were locked down in the cen