Victims of volcano found in ash
At least 31 dead in Japanese volcano eruption
TOKYO — Rescue efforts on Mount Ontake will resume Monday as hopes diminish that survivors will be found near the peak after Japan’s secondhighest volcano erupted Saturday, the nation’s second natural disaster in five weeks.
Finally reaching the ash- covered summit of a still- erupting volcano in central Japan on Sunday, rescue workers made a grim discovery: 31 apparently dead people, some reportedly buried in knee- deep ash.
Four victims were brought down and confirmed dead, said Takehiko Furukoshi, a Nagano prefecture crisis- management official. The 27 others were listed as having heart and lung failure, the customary way for Japanese authorities to describe a body until police doctors can examine it.
Officials provided no details on how they may have died.
Rescue work was halted Sunday afternoon due to the strong smell of sulphur, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Takeo Kamata, 60, said a hot wind blew and it became difficult to breathe when the 3,000- metre volcano erupted shortly before noon on Saturday.
“Little volcanic rocks struck my legs and back. I thought, if a big one hits me, I’m dead,’” Kamata said.
It was the first fatal eruption in modern times at the popular climbing destination about 210 kilometres west of Tokyo on the main Japanese island of Honshu. A similar eruption occurred in 1979, but no one died.
Dozens who had stayed overnight Saturday in mountain lodges descended to trailheads Sunday, some aided by police, fire and military rescue teams, their jackets coated with volcanic ash and their noses and mouths protected by white surgical masks.
Military helicopters plucked seven people off the mountainside earlier Sunday in three helicopter trips, said Defence Ministry official Toshihiko Muraki. All were conscious and could walk, he said.
Japanese television footage showed a soldier descending from a large camouflage- coloured helicopter and helping latch on to a man. Then the two of them were pulled up.
At least one woman was carried down on a stretcher, and a man with a broken arm walked down.
Ontake offers scenic views of the 3,000- metre peaks of Japan’s Northern and Southern Alps.
Clear skies two days ago would have drawn many hikers to the mountain’s popular trails, said Arata Matsunaga, a staffer at the tourism association in Nagano prefecture’s Kiso town. He declined to speculate on whether the official count of missing hikers is likely to increase.
Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 45 people remain unaccounted for.
Ontake’s eruption comes five weeks after torrential rains triggered mudslides that killed at least 42 people in Hiroshima.