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Japanese troops search mountain after volcano traps dozens Japanese volcano: at least 30 feared dead after being trapped on mountain
(35 minutes later)
More than 500 Japanese military and police are searching the slopes of a volcano popular with hikers a day after its sudden eruption trapped hundreds on the mountain for hours, amid conflicting reports about missing and injured climbers. More than 30 people are feared to have died after a volcano erupted in Japan, spewing ash and rocks and trapping scores of hikers on the hillside.
Television reports said more than 30 people have been found in a state of “cardiopulmonary” arrest near the top of the volcano, but did not say if they were alive. The victims, who were trapped overnight after Mount Ontake erupted without warning on Saturday, have been described as not breathing and their hearts stopped. That is the customary way for Japanese authorities to describe a body until police doctors can examine it.
Japan does not confirm deaths until a formal examination has been made. A Nagano prefectural official was unable to confirm the NHK TV report, Reuters said. “We have confirmed that more than 30 individuals in cardiac arrest have been found near the summit,” a Nagano prefecture police spokesman told AFP without elaborating further.
It was reported earlier on Sunday that 32 people were missing on the mountain west of Tokyo. At least 40 people were injured, including several with broken bones, officials said. The 3,067m-high mountain, a popular location for walkers and climbers, erupted shortly before noon Saturday, spewing large white plumes of gas, ash and rocks into the sky and blanketing the surrounding area.
“It’s very hard to know what’s happening on the mountain now and things could change,” said one official with the government of Nagano prefecture, one of two prefectures straddled by the 3,067m-high (10,062ft) peak. About 250 people were initially trapped on the slopes, but most made their way down by Saturday night.
Hundreds of people, including children, were stranded on the peak after it erupted without warning just before noon on Saturday, sending ash pouring down the slope for more than 3 km (2 miles.) Most made their way down that evening but some 30 were still stranded on Sunday morning. More than 500 Japanese military and police used helicopters to search for survivors on Sunday.
Video footage showed huge grey clouds boiling towards climbers at the peak and people scrambling to descend as blackness enveloped them.Video footage showed huge grey clouds boiling towards climbers at the peak and people scrambling to descend as blackness enveloped them.
“All of a sudden ash piled up so quickly that we couldn’t even open the door,” Shuichi Mukai, who worked in a mountain hut just below the peak, told Reuters. The hut quickly filled with hikers taking refuge.“All of a sudden ash piled up so quickly that we couldn’t even open the door,” Shuichi Mukai, who worked in a mountain hut just below the peak, told Reuters. The hut quickly filled with hikers taking refuge.
“We were really packed in here, maybe 150 people. There were some children crying, but most people were calm. We waited there in hard hats until they told us it was safe to come down.”“We were really packed in here, maybe 150 people. There were some children crying, but most people were calm. We waited there in hard hats until they told us it was safe to come down.”
The mountain, some 200km west of Tokyo, is a popular site to view autumn foliage, currently at its best.The mountain, some 200km west of Tokyo, is a popular site to view autumn foliage, currently at its best.
Flights at Tokyo’s Haneda airport suffered delays as planes changed routes to avoid the peak, which straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures, but were mostly back to normal by Sunday, an airport spokeswoman said.Flights at Tokyo’s Haneda airport suffered delays as planes changed routes to avoid the peak, which straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures, but were mostly back to normal by Sunday, an airport spokeswoman said.
Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active nations, but there have been no fatalities since 1991, when 43 people died in a pyroclastic flow, a superheated current of gas and rock, at Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan. An official at the volcano division of the Japan Meteorological Agency said that, while there had been a rising number of small earthquakes detected at Ontake since 10 September, the eruption could not have been predicted easily. Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active nations, but there have been no fatalities since 1991, when 43 people died in a pyroclastic flow, a superheated current of gas and rock, at Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan.
An official at the volcano division of the Japan Meteorological Agency said that, while there had been a rising number of small earthquakes detected at Ontake since 10 September, the eruption could not have been predicted easily.
“There were no other signs of an imminent eruption, such as earth movements or changes on the mountain’s surface,” the official told Reuters. “With only the earthquakes, we couldn’t really say this would lead to an eruption.”“There were no other signs of an imminent eruption, such as earth movements or changes on the mountain’s surface,” the official told Reuters. “With only the earthquakes, we couldn’t really say this would lead to an eruption.”