Hiker Captures Video of Japanese Volcano Erupting
How would you respond if the volcano you were standing on started erupting?
Probably not by taking a video.
But that’s what one hiker appeared to do, as Japan’s Mount Ontake erupted Saturday.
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The video, which was posted to the YouTube account of Kuroda Terutoshi, begins with the hiker’s camera pointed up what appears to be Mount Ontake, as massive gray plumes of ash billow into the sky. As the ash cascades down the mountain, the video eventually fades to darkness and the hiker begins to cough.
Rescue workers have found “30 people unconscious and believed to be dead,’’ according to the Associated Press. The mountain, which sits 130 miles west of Tokyo, is a popular climbing destination, and at least 250 people were initially trapped by the plumes of gas and ash. The AP reports that most people were able to make their way down by nightfall.
On Sunday, a plume of gray and white gas continued to rise from the 10,062-foot mountain. Mount Ontake’s last eruption was in 1979.
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