Sunday Times 2
Three more bodies found on Japan volcano as typhoon nears
View(s):TOKYO, Oct 4 (AFP) -Authorities found three more bodies on a still-smouldering Japanese volcano today after a search stalled by heavy rain resumed, while a typhoon threatened to further hamper the recovery operation.
Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) soldiers conduct rescue operations on the Mount Ontake (Reuters)
Local authorities said Friday that 16 people were unaccounted for on Mount Ontake, which erupted a week ago. It was not immediately clear if the three bodies found Saturday were included in that figure.
The bodies of 47 other victims have already been retrieved from the mountain.
Rescue workers have spoken of up to half a metre (20 inches) of thick, sticky ash smothering the slopes, with some of the dead found half-buried, leading to fears others may be entombed.
“Rescuers found a total of three more people in cardiac arrest today, and are now preparing to carry them down,” said a police spokesman Saturday in Nagano, central Japan, where the volcano sits.
Television footage showed soldiers in camouflage with gas masks hurriedly getting on a military helicopter departing to the peak, while scores of rescuers were carefully slushing up an ash-covered path to the summit.
Rescuers were using hand-held metal detectors and sticking poles into the ground in a bid to find victims possibly buried under the ash.