3 more bodies found on Japan volcano as typhoon nears
6 Oct 2014 3:53 AM IST
Local authorities said that 16 people were unaccounted for on Mount Ontake, which erupted a week ago. It was not immediately clear if the three bodies found on 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.
Only doctors can declare someone officially dead, so first responders typically report that someone’s heart has stopped and they are not breathing.
Some 930 troops, firefighters, police restarted their search on Saturday morning after heavy rain had suspended their recovery operation since Thursday afternoon.
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.
Only doctors can declare someone officially dead, so first responders typically report that someone’s heart has stopped and they are not breathing.
Some 930 troops, firefighters, police restarted their search on Saturday morning after heavy rain had suspended their recovery operation since Thursday afternoon.
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