Fire Volcano covers Guatemala towns with rock, ash

Feb. 7, 2015: A tourist covers his face as he walks next to a car covered with ash from the eruption of the Fuego Volcano at Antigua Guatemala. (AP)

GUATEMALA CITY –  The Fire Volcano in southern Guatemala exploded incandescent rock and ash over surrounding towns Saturday.

David de Leon, spokesman for the national disaster preparedness office, said authorities had put area on alert, but no evacuations had been made so far.

Karina Lopez, a resident of nearby Antigua, said ash mixed with a drizzle to reduce visibility and the volcano continued to rumble.

The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction agency issued instructions urging people to take shelter, wear masks, cover water tanks and be aware of evacuation routes. Firefighters were standing by.

The volcano sits on the border of the Guatemalan states of Escuintla, Sacatepequez and Chimaltenango. It has a height of 3,763 meters (12,346 feet) above sea level.

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Fire Volcano covers Guatemala towns with rock, ash

More bodies found at Japan volcano; toll now 36

Monday, September 29, 2014 | 8:58 AM    

KISO, Japan (AP) — Five more bodies were found near the summit of a Japanese volcano on Monday, bringing the total presumed dead to 36, police said, as toxic gases and ash from the still-erupting mountain forced rescue workers to halt efforts to recover the victims.

Eight more bodies were airlifted off Mount Ontake before work on the ash-blanketed peak was called off around 1:30 pm, said Naofumi Miyairi, a spokesman for the Nagano prefecture police.

Together with four victims brought down on Sunday, 12 bodies have now been recovered, leaving 24 near the summit. Exactly how they died remains unclear, though experts say it could be from suffocating ash, falling rocks, toxic gases or some combination of them. Some of the bodies had severe contusions.

Police said the latest victims were found near a shrine at the summit, the same area where other victims were reportedly found.

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More bodies found at Japan volcano; toll now 36

VIDEO: Thirty feared dead on Japan volcano

Thirty hikers found near the peak of Mount Ontake are feared dead after being found unresponsive, rescuers say.

The hikers were not breathing and their hearts had stopped, reports said. Final confirmation of death in Japan always comes via a medical examination.

The volcano, about 200km (125 miles) west of Tokyo, erupted at about noon on Saturday, spewing ash and rocks.

The BBC Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says the continuing eruptions have hampered rescue efforts.

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VIDEO: Thirty feared dead on Japan volcano

More than 250 trapped after Japan volcano erupts

Sept. 27, 2014: Dense fumes are spewed out from several spots on the slope of Mt. Ontake as the volcano erupts in central Japan. (AP)

TOKYO –  A volcano erupted in central Japan on Saturday, catching mountain climbers by surprise and trapping more than 250 people. At least 11 people were injured, including seven who were unconscious.

With a sound likened to thunder, Mount Ontake erupted shortly before noon, spewing large white plumes of ash high into the sky and sending people on the mountainside fleeing, covering some in ash.

More than 250 people were trapped on the mountain and a nearby peak in areas that were dangerous to approach, though some had decided to try making their way down as sunset approached, said Nagano prefecture crisis management official Minoru Kashiwabara.

Eleven people were injured, eight seriously, including the seven who lost consciousness, Kashiwabara said.

On the Gifu prefecture side of the mountain, 52 people were able to descend, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

The 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake sits on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, on the main Japanese island of Honshu.

One witness told Japanese public broadcaster NHK that the eruption started with large booms that sounded like thunder.

In a YouTube video shown on Japanese TV, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as an expanding plume of ash emerges above and then engulfs them.

Mikio Oguro, an NHK journalist who was on the slope on an unrelated assignment, told the station that he saw massive smoke coming out of the crater, blocking sunlight and reducing visibility to zero.

“Massive ash suddenly fell and the entire area was totally covered with ash,” he said by phone. He and his crew had to use headlights to find a lodge to take refuge.

“My colleagues later told me that they thought they might die,” Oguro said.

Japan’s meteorological agency raised the alert level for Mount Ontake to 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. It warned people to stay away from the mountain, saying ash and other debris could fall up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away.

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More than 250 trapped after Japan volcano erupts