Japan Volcano: Search Operation Resumes; Death Toll at 36 Following Mount Ontake Eruption

Associated Press
Published: September 29,2014





Search and rescue operations for people still trapped on Mount Ontake resumed Tuesday, just four days after the volcano erupted unexpectedly.
According to Japanese news network NHK, 180 of the 800 rescuers will be sent to the summit where they will be expected to transport 24 of the unconscious climbers found earlier from the area. The Ground Self-Defense force will further improve the rescue efforts by using large helicopters, something they have not been able to do since the fatal eruption.
NHK reported that the 24 climbers were in cardiac and respiratory arrest, as the climbers cannot be declared dead until officially examined by doctors, per Japanese custom.
Japanese police say the 24 were found near the peak within a shrine and in the surrounding areas, NHK reported.
The eruption of Mount Ontake volcano killed at least 36 people and injured 69 over the weekend, sending a cloud of ash and rocks toward unsuspecting hikers who had no warning of the tragedy about to occur.
Monday's search for additional missing victims was called off due to toxic levels of gas in the air, Reuters reported. Before the search was halted, rescue crews recovered another five bodies on Monday, the report added.
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Survivors said the rocks fell "like hailstones," according to the BBC. "The volcanic ash was hurtling so fast I couldn't run away. I'm worried about people still on the mountain," said one survivor in the BBC report.
Together with four victims brought down from the mountain on Sunday, 12 bodies have now been recovered, leaving 24 near the summit. Exactly how they died remains unclear, whether from gases, suffocating ash, falling rocks or other causes.
Japanese TV network TBS showed soldiers carrying yellow body bags one-by-one to a military helicopter that had landed in a relatively wide-open area of the now bleak landscape, its rotors still spinning.
The bodies were flown to a nearby athletic field, the surrounding forested hills contrasting with Mount Ontake's ash-gray peak in the background, a reduced plume still emerging from its crater.
The bodies were then taken to a small wooden elementary school in the nearby town of Kiso, where they were being examined in the gymnasium.
Family members of the missing waited at a nearby municipal hall.
More than 200 soldiers and firefighters, including units with gas detection equipment, were part of the search mission near the peak, said Katsunori Morimoto, an official in the village of Otaki.
The effort was halted because of an increase in toxic gas and ash as the volcano continued to spew fumes, he said.
"It sounds like there is enormous ash fall up there," he said.
The rescuers reported a strong smell of sulfur, Morimoto said.
Saturday's eruption was the first fatal one in modern times at the 10,062-foot mountain, a popular climbing destination 130 miles west of Tokyo. An eruption occurred in 1979, but no one died.
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Japanese media reported that some of the bodies were found in a lodge near the summit and that others were buried in ash up to 20 inches deep.
The mountain erupted shortly before noon at perhaps the worst possible time, with at least 250 people taking advantage of a beautiful fall Saturday to go for a hike. The blast spewed large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky, blotted out the midday sun and blanketed the surrounding area in ash.
Hundreds were initially trapped on the slopes, though most made their way down by Saturday night.
About 40 people who were stranded overnight came down on Sunday. Many were injured, and some had to be rescued by helicopters or carried down on stretchers.
Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency tallied 40 people who were injured, including three seriously, and said it was trying to determine if any people were still missing.
Survivors told Japanese media that they were pelted by rocks from the eruption. One man said he and others went into the basement of a lodge, fearing that the rocks would penetrate the roof. He said he covered himself with a thin mattress for protection.