More than 30 believed dead at Japanese volcano

TOKYO - Rescue workers on Sunday found more than 30 people unconscious and believed to be dead near the peak of an erupting volcano, a Japanese police official said.

The victims have been described as not breathing and their hearts have stopped, which is the customary way for Japanese authorities to describe a body until police doctors can examine it.

The official from Nagano prefecture police said details of where the bodies were found and their identities were not immediately known. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Mount Ontake in central Japan erupted shortly before noon Saturday, spewing large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky and blanketing the surrounding area in ash. At least 250 people were initially trapped on the slopes, but most made their way down by Saturday night.

In a video posted on YouTube, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as the expanding ash plume emerged above and then engulfed them.

Keita Ushimaru, an official in nearby Kiso town, said that Nagano prefecture crisis management officials had informed the town that at four people were being brought down with heart and lung failures, and that there were others in the same condition.

Rescue workers were also trying to bring down the injured who were stranded on the mountain overnight. Military helicopters plucked seven people off the mountainside earlier Sunday, and workers on foot were also helping others make their way down.

To watch aerial footage of the erupting volcano click on the video player below.

Mount Ontake is about 130 miles west of Tokyo and sits on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. The volcano's last major eruption was in 1979.