Fears over fresh Japan volcano eruption forces end to search operation

Increased seismic activity has raised concerns about the possibility of another eruption at a Japanese volcano where 36 people were killed last week, forcing rescuers to suspend plans to try to recover at least two dozen bodies near the summit. Volcanic tremors rose to a level not seen since Saturday evening, hours after Mount Ontake’s initial large eruption, said Shoji Saito of the Japan Meteorological Agency. “At this point, anything can happen,” Mr Saito said, though he stopped short of predicting another large eruption.

I almost thought it was the end of my life.

Yuji Tsuno, a veteran mountain photographer, who was near the summit at the time

About 80 to 100 relatives and friends of those who died on the summit are waiting for news in a municipal hall in the nearby central Japanese town of Kiso. Rescuers found five more bodies yesterday, bringing the death toll to 36. They have managed to airlift only 12 bodies off the mountain since the start of the eruption on Saturday because of dangerous conditions. How the victims died remains unclear, though experts say it was probably as a result of suffocating ash, falling rocks, toxic gases or some combination of them. The eruption caught seismologists by surprise.

Asia-Pacific Mount Ontake