36 Tewas Akibat Gas Beracun dari Letusan Gunung Ontake
36 Feared Dead in Massive Explosion of Ash and Poison Gas in Japan
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
TIM penyelamat menghentikan upaya pencarian pendaki yang hilang setelah Gunung Ontake di Jepang meletus, karena terus mengeluarkan gas beracun, bebatuan dan debu yang membahayakan keselamatan manusia.
Setidaknya 36 orang diyakini tewas ketika Gunung Ontake meletus tiba-tiba pada Sabtu pekan lalu.
Banyak korban yang selamat diyakini masih terkurung di rumah-rumah yang kini tertutup abu vulkanik - beberapa yang terluka dan tidak mampu untuk turun sendiri, sementara korban lainnya tidak mau mengambil risiko.
Namun, sekelompok pendaki pertama kali dilaporkan hilang dekat puncak dan kini diperkirakan tewas. Namun polisi menolak untuk mengkonfirmasi kematian mereka menunggu pemeriksaan formal, sesuai ketentuan di Jepang, seperti dilansir MailOnline.
Hanya empat orang sejauh ini dikonfirmasi tewas setelah letusan pertama gunung berapi yang fatal di Jepang sejak tahun 1991, dan sedikitnya 60 terluka, beberapa korban mengalami patah tulang.
Rekaman televisi Jepang juga menunjukkan tentara turun dari helikopter ke lereng tertutup abu, mencoba menyelamatkan seorang pria dan kemudian mereka ditarik ke helikopter dengan tali baja yang disangkutkan di pinggangnya.
Pasukan bela diri Jepang, sebutan untuk militer Jepang, telah menyebarkan tujuh helikopter dan 250 tentara. Polisi dan pemadam kebakaran juga mengambil bagian dalam upaya penyelamatan.
Seorang pejabat di daerah itu mengatakan upaya penyelamatan saat ini dibatalkan karena meningkatnya kadar gas beracun di dekat puncak gunung, dan mendekati petang hari.
"Atap di pondok gunung hancur akibat reruntuhan bebatuan, jadi kami harus berlindung di bawah bangunan," kata seorang petugas kepada televisi nasional, NHK. "Situasinya sangat mencekam."
Lebih dari 60 orang terluka, beberapa patah tulang. Sebelumnya, Pemadam Kebakaran dan Badan Penanggulangan Bencana mengatakan pihak berwenang sedang berusaha untuk mengkonfirmasi keberadaan 45 orang tapi tidak jelas apakah angka itu termasuk 36 pendaki yang diperkirakan tewas.
Gunung berapi ini masih meletus hari ini, mengeluarkan asap dan abu ratusan meter ke langit. Debu menyebar hingga sejauh 80 km.
Gunung berapi meletus secara berkala di Jepang, salah satu negara paling rawan gempa di dunia, tetapi tidak ada korban jiwa sejak 1991, ketika 43 orang tewas dalam aliran piroklastik, yang super panas saat gas dan batu dimuntahkan dari Gunung Unzen di barat daya Jepang.
RESCUE teams searching Japan´s Mount Ontake for missing climbers suspended operations as the volcano continued to shoot gas, rocks and ash into the air.
At least 36 people are believed to have died when Mt Ontake erupted unexpectedly on Saturday.
Many of those still stranded have been taking refuge in mountain lodges - some are injured and unable to descend on their own, while others are unwilling to take the risk.
However, a group of hikers first reported missing near the summit are now presumed dead. The group were located by police in a state of ´cardiac arrest´ - but police declined to confirm their deaths pending a formal examination, as per Japanese custom.
Only four people have so far been confirmed dead in Japan´s first fatal volcanic eruption since 1991, and at least 60 have been injured, some with broken bones.
Japanese television footage also showed a soldier descending from a helicopter to an ash-covered slope, helping latch on a man and then the two of them being pulled up.
The Self-Defense Force, as Japan´s military is called, has deployed seven helicopters and 250 troops. Police and fire departments are also taking part in the rescue effort.
An official in the area said rescue efforts for had now been called off due to rising levels of toxic gas near the peak, as well as approaching nightfall.
´The roof on the mountain lodge was destroyed by falling rock, so we had to take refuge below the building,´ one told NHK national television. ´That´s how bad it was.´
More than 60 people were injured, several with broken bones. Earlier, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency had said authorities were trying to confirm the whereabouts of 45 people but it was not clear whether that figure included the 36 hikers presumed dead.
The volcano was still erupting today, pouring smoke and ash hundreds of metres into the sky. Ash was found on cars as far as 80km away.
Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan, one of the world´s most seismically active nations, but there have been no fatalities since 1991, when 43 people died in a pyroclastic flow, a superheated current of gas and rock, at Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan.
