TOKYO: The death toll from a sudden volcanic eruption in Japan hit 47 yesterday as rescuers discovered 11 new bodies in so-far unexplored areas of the ash-covered peak.
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 for almost 90 years.
Up until Sunday 36 bodies had been found, but many of these remained on the ruptured mountain as toxic gas and the risk of further eruptions forced emergency workers to suspend operations.
The region’s police earlier said 12 new bodies were found yesterday but they later corrected the figure to 11. “Police mistook the number as they were confused in the process of transporting the bodies,” an official at Nagano prefecture’s crisis management office said.
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 around 1,000 troops, police and firefighters combing the volcano succeeded yesterday in bringing down 14 more of the bodies that were discovered on Sunday.
An official at the crisis management office said helicopters had brought the dead from the mountain, whose pockmarked lunarscape bears witness to the huge volume of ash and rocks flung from the volcano.
AFP
