September 27, Saturday - At least 30 hikers are feared dead in Japan after being found in a lifeless state near the peak of a volcano that erupted a day earlier.
Japanese authorities never confirm death until after a medical examination.
Dozens of others were injured or are missing.
Hundreds of people including children were stranded on Mount Ontake, some 200 kilometres west of Tokyo, after it suddenly erupted on Saturday.
Smoke and ash was flung hundreds of metres into the sky, and several kilometres down the slope of the volcano.
Amateur video taken inside a mountain hut showed volcanic ash passing the windows as people took shelter.
More than 500 emergency staff including the military resumed their work on Sunday morning, helping stranded victims and looking for those still missing.
“The volcanic rocks fell like hailstones. We couldn’t breathe so we covered our mouths with towels. We couldn’t open our eyes either,” said one survivor.
At one stage on Saturday some 250 hikers were stranded on the mountain but most managed to make it down by nightfall.
More than 30 people spent the night in mountain huts, most of whom came down on Sunday morning.
Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan but until this weekend no one had died for more than two decades.
UPDATE October 2, 2014
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The death toll from a Japanese volcano eruption rose to 48, the worst in 88 years, after more victims were discovered on the ash-covered mountain. Military searchers resumed a recovery operation with helicopters early on Wednesday (October 1) a day after officials called off rescue efforts because of poisonous gas and fears of another blast.
SLIDESHOW
UPDATE October 3, 2014
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Authorities in Japan say 16 people are still missing after last week’s volcanic eruption in the centre of the country.
The bodies of 47 hikers have been recovered from Mount Ontake, but bad weather has led to a delay in the search effort.
Rescuers say they hope the recovery of bodies can resume next week.
Ikuo Aoyagi, the disaster coordinator for the Nagano region, told reporters: “Up until now our search for victims has concentrated on retrieving bodies that are visible to the eye. But from now on we will expand our search and also look for victims buried or covered in ash.”
The eruption of Mount Ontake without warning last Saturday is the country’s worst disaster of its type in more than a century.
Hundreds of day-trippers did manage to descend the volcano after the eruption, but dozens more were trapped.
UPDATE October 4, 2014
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOKYO (AP) — Rescuers on Saturday retrieved four more bodies near the summit of a Japanese volcano that erupted last weekend, raising the death toll to 51, authorities said.
More than 900 rescue workers resumed searching the slopes after rain had halted their activity the previous day, Nagano prefecture said in a statement.
The four bodies were near the ash-covered summit area of 3,067-meter (about 10,000-foot) Mount Ontake in central Japan.
Many hikers had been resting or having lunch in the summit area when the surprise eruption threw out large rocks, ash and fumes a week ago.
It was not immediately known if the four were among the 16 people that authorities said are believed still missing.
Most of those who died and many of the nearly 70 injured were hit by boulders or rocks that flew out of the crater. (AP)
In this Satuday, Sept. 27, 2014 photo found in a camera possessed by 59-year-old hiker Izumi Noguchi who fell victim to the eruption of Mount Ontake, and was offered to Kyodo News by his wife, Hiromi, Friday, Oct. 3, Noguchi poses on the summit of Mount Ontake shortly before the eruption of the volcanic mountain in central Japan. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
Credits: Kyodo News, RT, AP, Yahoo News , Euro News
*All images and video clips used are properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement or pun intended.
Japanese authorities never confirm death until after a medical examination.
Dozens of others were injured or are missing.
Hundreds of people including children were stranded on Mount Ontake, some 200 kilometres west of Tokyo, after it suddenly erupted on Saturday.
Smoke and ash was flung hundreds of metres into the sky, and several kilometres down the slope of the volcano.
Amateur video taken inside a mountain hut showed volcanic ash passing the windows as people took shelter.
More than 500 emergency staff including the military resumed their work on Sunday morning, helping stranded victims and looking for those still missing.
“The volcanic rocks fell like hailstones. We couldn’t breathe so we covered our mouths with towels. We couldn’t open our eyes either,” said one survivor.
At one stage on Saturday some 250 hikers were stranded on the mountain but most managed to make it down by nightfall.
More than 30 people spent the night in mountain huts, most of whom came down on Sunday morning.
Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan but until this weekend no one had died for more than two decades.
UPDATE October 2, 2014
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The death toll from a Japanese volcano eruption rose to 48, the worst in 88 years, after more victims were discovered on the ash-covered mountain. Military searchers resumed a recovery operation with helicopters early on Wednesday (October 1) a day after officials called off rescue efforts because of poisonous gas and fears of another blast.
SLIDESHOW
UPDATE October 3, 2014
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorities in Japan say 16 people are still missing after last week’s volcanic eruption in the centre of the country.
The bodies of 47 hikers have been recovered from Mount Ontake, but bad weather has led to a delay in the search effort.
Rescuers say they hope the recovery of bodies can resume next week.
Ikuo Aoyagi, the disaster coordinator for the Nagano region, told reporters: “Up until now our search for victims has concentrated on retrieving bodies that are visible to the eye. But from now on we will expand our search and also look for victims buried or covered in ash.”
The eruption of Mount Ontake without warning last Saturday is the country’s worst disaster of its type in more than a century.
Hundreds of day-trippers did manage to descend the volcano after the eruption, but dozens more were trapped.
UPDATE October 4, 2014
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOKYO (AP) — Rescuers on Saturday retrieved four more bodies near the summit of a Japanese volcano that erupted last weekend, raising the death toll to 51, authorities said.
More than 900 rescue workers resumed searching the slopes after rain had halted their activity the previous day, Nagano prefecture said in a statement.
The four bodies were near the ash-covered summit area of 3,067-meter (about 10,000-foot) Mount Ontake in central Japan.
Many hikers had been resting or having lunch in the summit area when the surprise eruption threw out large rocks, ash and fumes a week ago.
It was not immediately known if the four were among the 16 people that authorities said are believed still missing.
Most of those who died and many of the nearly 70 injured were hit by boulders or rocks that flew out of the crater. (AP)
In this Satuday, Sept. 27, 2014 photo found in a camera possessed by 59-year-old hiker Izumi Noguchi who fell victim to the eruption of Mount Ontake, and was offered to Kyodo News by his wife, Hiromi, Friday, Oct. 3, Noguchi poses on the summit of Mount Ontake shortly before the eruption of the volcanic mountain in central Japan. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
Credits: Kyodo News, RT, AP, Yahoo News , Euro News
*All images and video clips used are properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement or pun intended.
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