The death
toll from a sudden volcanic eruption in Japan
The figure
makes the eruption of Mount Ontake , which was packed with hikers when it burst
angrily to life on Saturday lunchtime, the worst volcanic disaster in Japan
Up until
Sunday 36 bodies had been found, but many of those remained on the ruptured
mountain as toxic gas and the risk of further eruptions forced emergency
workers to suspend operations.
The grim news
of more deaths came after media reports earlier suggested as many as 20 people
remained unaccounted for, with an area of the volcano still spewing steam and
gas.
Some of the
about 1,000 troops, police and firefighters combing the volcano succeeded in
bringing down 14 more of the bodies that were discovered on Sunday, with
another 10 still there.
An official
at Nagano Prefecture
“We believe
there are more people still missing, but we don’t know how many there are,” the
official added.
Broadcaster
NHK said earlier in the day rescuers had seen more bodies that they had not yet
been able to access.
Hiking is a
hugely popular pastime in Japan, with mountain trails promoted by tourism
officials, who ask walkers to sign in when they begin their trek and sign out
again when they finish, but a local tourism association told the Asahi Shimbun
that usually only 10 to 20 percent of hikers register before entering the
mountains in high season.
The report
said 327 hikers had registered their presence on Mount Ontake
Rescuers are
hoping that many of those who cannot be contacted simply forgot to let mountain
managers know they were safe.
However,
there exists the grisly possibility that many more perished.
“We don’t
know if there are people buried deep down under accumulated ash,” a senior
police official told the Asahi Shimbun.
The local
fire department said 71 people are missing, while Nagano Prefectural police
have received hundreds of reports of people whose whereabouts are unknown, a
police spokesman said.
Authorities
cautioned that some of those reports would likely have nothing to do with the
disaster, which happened without warning during a busy weekend.
Hundreds of
people were on the slopes of the volcano as rocks, ash and smoke poured from
the fractured crater. Many made it down safely, but dozens were trapped on the
peak.
Autopsies
conducted on the first 12 people whose bodies were retrieved showed they all
died from injuries caused by rocks hurled high into the air by the eruption.
Aerial
footage showed a sticky blanket of ash smothering the upper slopes. Craters
that appeared to be up to a meter across revealed where some of the projectiles
had landed.
The roof of
one of the huts near the caldera, where hikers are believed to have sought
shelter, had been punctured by rocks as they plunged back to earth.
Volcanic tremors
have been detected constantly since Saturday’s eruption, with underground water
boiling into steam and breaking or moving rocks, a vulcanologist at the
meteorological agency said.
The agency
warned yesterday that the eruption was still under way and noted that smoke had
been seen issuing from the Mount
Ontake
Until
yesterday the single biggest death toll from a volcano was 43, when Mount Unzen
erupted in southwestern Japan
In 1926, 144
people were left dead or missing after the eruption of Mount
Tokachi in northern Japan
From: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2014/10/02 /2003601100
ash-covered 覆蓋火山灰的
remain unaccounted for 下落不明的
spewing steam 水蒸氣
fractured crater 火山斷裂口
What: volcanic
eruption in Japan
When: Thu,
Oct 02, 2014
Who:
Where: Nagano Prefecture , Japan
Why: eruption
difficult to predict
How:
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