25/01/2018
(According to the agency)
A volcano in central Japan ski country erupted without warning Tuesday morning, killing one person, injuring 11 others and sending authorities scrambling to determine the nature of the surprise blast.
Mount Kusatsu-Shirane, about 150km northwest of Tokyo, is one of 50 active volcanoes under constant watch by the Japan Meteorological Agency. But the eruption occurred near a lake about 2km from one the agency had deemed more dangerous and kept under video surveillance.
Falling rocks killed a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force undergoing a ski training exercise and injured five other service members, two gravely, the Ministry of Defense said.
Around 80 people, many skiers, stranded at a lodge near the mountain's peak were evacuated, some by helicopter.
"I thought I was going to die here," said a 28-year-old woman on a family skiing trip.
The volcano blew as they were heading up the mountain on an aerial tramway. "You could hear the volcanic rocks hitting the car as it shook," she said. The debris shattered windows on the tramway and tore through the ceiling of one of the stations.
Further explosions were unlikely, the meteorological agency said, but it warned of the possibility of falling rocks within a 2km radius of the eruption site. Popular hot springs in the area, including Kusatsu Onsen, lie further away and are not at risk, according to the agency..
