Forty-eight people were confirmed dead four days after the eruption of a volcano in central Japan, local police said Wednesday, making it the worst such disaster in decades.
All the victims' bodies, including 12 discovered earlier Wednesday, had been transported from near the peak of Mount Ontake to the foot of the volcano, a Nagano prefectural police official said.
The victims had been presumed dead, but the fatalities were only confirmed after inspection by medical authorities lower down the slopes of the 3,067-metre volcano.
The figure was the highest from a single eruption in the country since detailed records began after World War II.
In 1991, a pyroclastic flow from Fugen Peak of Mount Unzen on the southern island of Kyushu killed 43 people.
About 1,000 rescue workers resumed operations Wednesday in the search for more possible victims.
Search operations were suspended on the previous day amid fears of another large eruption.
Toxic gases and plumes of smoke around the peak still hampered rescue efforts, a Nagano official said.
Mount Ontake, 200 kilometres west of Tokyo, experienced a major eruption in 1979 when it spewed more than 200,000 tons of ash.
48 confirmed dead at Japanese volcano
Forty-eight people were confirmed dead four days after the eruption of a volcano in central Japan, local police said Wednesday, making it the worst such disaster in decades.
All the victims' bodies, including 12 discovered earlier Wednesday, had been transported from near the peak of Mount Ontake to the foot of the volcano, a Nagano prefectural police official said.
The victims had been presumed dead, but the fatalities were only confirmed after inspection by medical authorities lower down the slopes of the 3,067-metre volcano.
The figure was the highest from a single eruption in the country since detailed records began after World War II.
In 1991, a pyroclastic flow from Fugen Peak of Mount Unzen on the southern island of Kyushu killed 43 people.
About 1,000 rescue workers resumed operations Wednesday in the search for more possible victims.
Search operations were suspended on the previous day amid fears of another large eruption.
Toxic gases and plumes of smoke around the peak still hampered rescue efforts, a Nagano official said.
Mount Ontake, 200 kilometres west of Tokyo, experienced a major eruption in 1979 when it spewed more than 200,000 tons of ash.
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