Japanese television footage 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.

So far, seven people have been picked up in three trips, said Defense Ministry official Toshihiko Muraki. All are conscious and can walk, though details of their conditions are unclear, he said.

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 estimated 40 people were stranded at mountain lodges overnight, many injured and unable or unwilling to risk descending 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake on their own. Rescue workers are also trying to reach the area on foot.

A large plume, a mixture of white and gray, continued to rise from the ash-covered summit of the volcano Sunday morning, visible from the nearby village of Otaki. A convoy of red fire trucks, sirens blaring, and rescue workers on foot headed past barriers into the restricted zone around the mountain.

Shinichi Shimohara, who works at a shrine at the foot of the mountain, said he was on his way up Saturday morning when he heard a loud noise that sounded like strong winds followed by "thunder" as the volcano erupted.

"For a while I heard thunder pounding a number of times," he said. "Soon after, some climbers started descending. They were all covered with ash, completely white. I thought to myself, this must be really serious."

In a video posted on YouTube, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as an expanding plume of ash emerges above and then engulfs them.

Many of those who made it down emerged with clothes and backpacks covered in ash. They reported being engulfed in total darkness for several minutes.

Mikio Oguro, a journalist who was on the slope on an unrelated assignment for Japanese broadcaster NHK, later told his station by phone that he saw massive smoke coming out of the crater, blocking sunlight and reducing visibility to zero.

"Massive ash suddenly fell and the entire area was totally covered with ash," he said. He and his crew had to use headlamps to find a lodge.

Two Jetstar flights headed to Tokyo's Narita International Airport diverted to Kansai International Airport in western Japan as a precaution."My colleagues later told me that they thought they might die," Oguro said.

Japan's meteorological agency raised the alert level for Mount Ontake to 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. It warned people to stay away from the mountain, saying ash and other debris could fall up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away.

Mount Ontake, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) west of Tokyo, sits on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. The volcano's last major eruption was in 1979.

7獲救，32失踪火山爆發在日本

劉慧卿王，美聯社
2014年9月28日，下午2時09分TWN

山禦岳日本中部爆發不久，中午前週六，噴出的氣體和火山灰的白色大羽毛高入天空，籠罩在火山灰周邊地區。約250人被困最初的山坡上，但週六晚上最使他們一路下滑。

至少有34登山者受傷，其中包括12嚴重的是，據日本消防和災難管理機構。理貨低於報導的早期地方官員，但災難機構警告說，數字可能有所變動。

那些失踪的人數大幅上升至32，該機構說。

日本電視台畫面顯示，一名士兵從直升機下降到灰覆蓋的斜坡，有助於鎖定在一個人，然後他們兩個人被拉起。

到目前為止，七個人都被接走了三個班次，說國防部官員俊彥村木。都是有意識的，可以行走，但他們的條件細節都不清楚，他說。

該自衛隊，為日本的軍事被調用時，已部署7架直升機和250部隊。被警察和消防部門也採取了救援工作的一部分。

據估計，有40人被困在山上的小屋過夜，許多人受傷，無法或不願冒險降3,067米（10,062英尺）安裝禦岳自己。救援人員也在試圖徒步到達的區域。

大柱，白色和灰色的混合，繼續從火山週日上午的火山灰覆蓋的山頂，從瀧附近的村莊可見上升。紅色的消防車，警笛刺耳，或步行救援人員組成的車隊為首的過去進入壁壘山周圍的禁區。

下原伸一，誰的作品在神社的山腳下，說他週六早上在他的途中，當他聽說，聽起來像是強風，其次是“雷聲”的火山爆發一聲巨響。

“有一段時間，我聽到雷聲衝擊的次數，”他說。“不久後，一些登山者開始下撤。他們都佈滿了灰，全白的，我心想，這一定是很嚴重的。”

在視頻上傳到YouTube上，震驚登山者可以看到快速移動離峰灰的擴張羽出現上面，然後吞噬他們。

許多人誰做下來，出現了火山灰覆蓋的衣服和背包。他們的報告被淹沒在完全黑暗的幾分鐘。

大黑幹雄，記者誰是在一個不相關的分配日本NHK電視台的斜率，後來告訴他的站通過電話，他看到大量濃煙冒出來的火山口，阻擋陽光和能見度下降到零。

“大規模的灰突然倒下，整個區域被完全覆蓋著火山灰，”他說。他和他的船員不得不用大燈尋找旅館。

“我的同事​​後來告訴我，他們認為他們可能會死，”大黑說。

前往東京成田國際機場兩捷星航班轉移到關西國際機場西日本，作為預防措施。

日本氣象廳上調摩禦岳警戒級別為3的規模為1至5，告誡人們要遠離大山，說灰等雜物可能會下降多達4公里（2.5英里）的路程。

山禦岳，約210公里（合130英里），東京以西，坐落在長野縣和岐阜縣的邊界，對本州的日本主要島嶼。這座火山上一次大規模噴發是在1979年。