MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) – The bodies of eight hikers, victims of the Mount Ontake eruption in central Japan, have been transported by rescue teams to the foot of the volcano, Kyodo News reported Monday.
There are five men and three women among the transported climbers. Rescue teams are said to have found five more bodies on the volcano, pushing the total number of people found to 36.
Earlier reports on September 28 suggested that 30 hikers had been found on Sunday in cardiac arrest on Mount Ontake, with the total of about 250 stranded.
The 30 hikers were found near the top of the volcano situated some 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Tokyo. At least 34 climbers have been injured.
The 3,067-meter (10,062-feet) high Mount Ontake erupted at about 11:53 a.m. local time (02:53 GMT) on Saturday. A number of international flights have been canceled because of the eruption, with some routes changed.
Mount Ontake previously erupted in 2007. The current eruption has caused at least 313 volcanic earthquakes, with 240 of them occurring within the first two hours of the eruption.
