Authorities have found three more bodies on a still-smouldering Japanese volcano after the search was stalled by heavy rain.
Adding to the difficulties facing rescuers, an oncoming typhoon threatens to further hamper the recovery operation.
Local authorities said 16 people were still unaccounted for on Mt Ontake, which erupted a week ago. It was not immediately clear if the three bodies found on Saturday were included in that figure.
The bodies of 47 other victims have already been retrieved from the mountain.
Rescue workers have spoken of up to 50-centimetre thick, sticky ash smothering the slopes, with some of the dead found half-buried, leading to fears others may be entombed.
"Rescuers found a total of three more people in cardiac arrest today, and are now preparing to carry them down," a local police spokesman said.
Only doctors can declare someone officially dead, so first responders typically report that someone's heart has stopped and they are not breathing.
About 930 troops, firefighters and police restarted their search on Saturday morning after heavy rain had suspended their recovery operation since Thursday afternoon.
Television footage showed soldiers in camouflage with gas masks hurriedly getting on a military helicopter departing to the peak, while scores of rescuers were carefully walking up an ash-covered path to the summit.
Rescuers were using hand-held metal detectors and sticking poles into the ground in a bid to find victims possibly buried under the ash.
Mt Ontake was packed with walkers when it burst angrily to life a week ago.
Local residents, government officials and rescuers standing by near the base of the mountain prayed in silence for one minute at 11:52am local time Saturday, the exact moment when the volcano exploded seven days earlier.
The volcano continues to emit steam and poisonous fumes, making a section near the crater inaccessible.
Meanwhile, a powerful typhoon looming off the Japanese coast looked set to batter the country over the coming days.
Typhoon Phanfone is predicted to slam into Japan with strong winds and high waves this weekend or later, the meteorological agency said.
Packing gusts of up to 252kph, Phanfone is moving northwest in the Pacific to curve toward Japan's southwest at a speed of 15kph.
That could force the recovery to be put off for days, drawing out the ordeal for families of those still missing, who are gathered at the foot of the volcano.
AFP
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