At least 36 people are feared to have died after a Japanese volcano erupted without warning at the weekend, raining ash and stones on hikers.
The search for victims has been abandoned due to fears of rising levels of toxic gases.
Rescuers at the peak of Mount Ontake, now an eerie moonscape under a thick layer of grey ash, today found what may be five new victims of the eruption.
The eruption of the 3,067-metre volcano, 200km west of Tokyo, took place as the popular hiking site was packed with climbers, including children, admiring autumn foliage.
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.
More than 500 rescuers had been combing the summit, ploughing through knee-deep ash and passing mountain lodges with holes punched in their roofs by rocks shot out of the volcano.
Helicopters lifted laden stretchers one by one from the summit today before rescue efforts were abandoned.
The smell of sulphur strengthened at the peak, fanning fears of toxic fumes and forcing rescuers off the mountain.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active nations.
In 1991, 43 people died in a pyroclastic flow, a superheated current of gas and rock, at Mount Unzen in the southwest.
Ontake, Japan's second-highest active volcano, last had a minor eruption seven years ago.
Its last major eruption, the first on record, was in 1979.
Hikers said there was no warning of Saturday's eruption just before noon and hundreds were trapped for hours before descent became possible later in the day.
