Half of Mount Ontake victims killed by erupting volcano in Japan were found clutching phones | Daily Mail Online

By Sara Malm for MailOnline

Published: 05:48 EST, 12 November 2014 | Updated: 09:23 EST, 12 November 2014

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The victims of the deadly Japanese volcano eruption earlier this autumn spent their final moments taking photographs of the catastrophic event, local media reports.

More than half of the 56 bodies recovered from the peak of Mount Ontake were found clutching mobile phones with photos of the deadly lava and ash on them.

The September eruption on the central Japanese island of Honshu, left at least 57 dead, and a further six people remain unaccounted for.

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Final photograph: Izumi Noguchi took this incredible photograph of a huge cloud of ash from Japanese volcano Mount Ontake just moments before he was killed

More than half of the victims were still holding their smartphones, while others were found to have taken snaps of the ash and lava with cameras or phones just moments before they died.

Among the victims of the volcano was 59-year-old hiker Izumi Noguchi, whose body was found near Mount Ontake's summit shrine compound.

Search and rescue teams recovering his body discovered his camera and among the photographs he had taken were images of a huge cloud of ash creeping ever closer to him following the eruption.

His wife Hiromi opted to make the images public as a tribute to Mr Noguchi's memory, but said ’I wish he had fled instead of taking pictures,’ the Guardian reports.

Another hiker Hideomi Takahashi, 41, was found near the summit with his iPhone still working.

Last sight: Izumi Noguchi's images show the minutes immediately after the volcano on Mount Ontake erupted on September 27 this year

Izumi Noguchi, pictured shortly before his death on Mount Ontake, who took the photographs of the ash cloud. His wife Hiromi (right) opted to make the images public

Last snap: More than half of the 56 bodies recovered from the peak of Mount Ontake after the September eruption were found clutching mobile phones with photos of the deadly lava and ash on them

Another hiker Hideomi Takahashi, 41, was found near the summit with his iPhone still working.

A family friend posted the photographs online after Mr Takahashi’s funeral, telling local media that the iPhone contained at least six photos from what would be the last few minutes of Mr Takahashi’s life.

Most of the bodies were found near Mount Ontake's summit, where many climbers were resting or having lunch. Some bodies were retrieved from a trail at a slightly lower elevation.

Experts say hikers near the summit might have been hit by rocks flying as fast as 190 miles per hour. Most of the ash fell in the first hour of the explosion, according to the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute.

Survivors said they fled for their lives as rocks and debris rained down on them while they struggled with hot air and ash hitting their face.

Hiker films terrifying escape from erupting volcano in Japan

Deadly: The eruption on Mount Ontake, located on the central Japanese island of Honshu, on September 27 this year, left at least 57 dead, and a further six people remain unaccounted for

Medical experts who have examined some of the nearly 70 injured have said most had bruises, cuts and bone fractures on their back, an apparent sign they were hit by rocks flying out of the volcano. Some of the injured reportedly had damage to their lungs and other organs due to the impact of rocks hitting them.

The eruption at Mount Ontake, located on the central Japanese island of Honshu, around 120miles southwest of Tokyo, caught hikers by surprise. 

Seismologists have said that increased seismic activity had been detected at Ontake, one of 47 active volcanoes in Japan that are under 24-hour monitoring, but that nothing signaled such a big eruption.

The death toll is the highest from a volcanic eruption in Japan's postwar history, exceeding the 43 people killed in the 1991 eruption of Mount Unzen in southern Japan.

Ontake, Japan's second-highest active volcano, last had a minor eruption seven years ago. Researchers say predicting a steam-driven explosion is especially difficult - and even harder with limited information about a peak's past volcanic activity. 

 

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