TOKYO — Doctors have determined that almost all of the dozens of people killed on a Japanese volcano died of injuries from being hit by rocks that flew out during its eruption, police said Thursday.
Rescuers have retrieved 47 bodies from the ash-covered summit area of Mount Ontake since Saturday’s eruption. Doctors concluded that all but one of the bodies showed signs of having been hit by volcanic boulders and rocks, Nagano prefectural police said. The other victim died of burns from inhaling hot air.
Those hit by the rocks and debris had multiple cuts and fractures, particularly in the head and the back, as well as the legs, a prefectural police official said on condition of anonymity.
Experts say hikers near the summit might have been hit by rocks flying as fast as 190 miles per hour. Some of the injured reportedly had damage to their lungs and other organs due to the impact of rocks hitting them.
Most of the ash fell in the first hour of the explosion, according to the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute.
