When a volcano expert becomes convinced that a cataclysmic natural disaster is about to unfold, a volcanologist Professor John Shepherd and his graduate students. VBJQtkNkiGo/hqdefault.jpg' alt='Watch Magma: Volcanic Disaster Online Free' title='Watch Magma: Volcanic Disaster Online Free' />Mount Ontakes explosion of ash and gas. Rescue teams searching Japans Mount Ontake for missing climbers suspended operations as the volcano continued to shoot gas, rocks and ash into the air. At least 3. 6 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 Japans first fatal volcanic eruption since 1. Scroll down for video  Soldiers, firefighters and police pictured conducting rescue operations on the slopes of the ash covered volcano Desperate rescue Mount Ontake erupted shortly before noon on Saturday, spewing large white plumes of gas and ash into the sky and blanketing the surroundings. Rescue efforts are now focusing on finding and evacuating survivors from the area. Today seven people were airlifted out by helicopter. A survivor is carried off the volcano by a group of soldiers. Some survivors are unable to descend on their own while others are not willing to take the risk. Rescue workers search for missing climbers and hikers on the volcano after the eruption left dozens injured, missing or stranded. Firefighters and members of Japans Ground Self Defence Forces conduct rescue operations on Mount Ontake. A blanket of ash covered nearby buildings and land. Two tanks from the Ground Self Defence Force enter Otaki village in a bid to help support the rescue operations. Hundreds of soldiers, police officers and firefighters have moved into the area to help rescue those still stranded on the volcano. News crews and a tank parked side by side in the area near Mount Ontake a day after the volcano erupted without warning. Smoke continues to emanate from Mount Ontake a day after the eruption which stranded more than about 4. Military helicopters today plucked seven people off the mountainside and workers were helping others make their way down the slopes. One woman was being carried on a stretcher, and a man with a broken arm was walking down. All were conscious and most could walk, though details of their conditions were unclear. 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 Japans military is called, has deployed seven helicopters and 2. 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. Most of those caught in the eruption made their way down at the time, but about 4. Some wrapped themselves in blankets and huddled in the basement of buildings. 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. Thats how bad it was. More than 6. Earlier, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency had said authorities were trying to confirm the whereabouts of 4. The volcano was still erupting today, pouring smoke and ash hundreds of metres into the sky. Ash was found on cars as far as 8. Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan, one of the worlds most seismically active nations, but there have been no fatalities since 1. Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan. Rescuers had planned to bring four of them down the mountain by later tonight, Jiji Press said citing police sources. Although a handful of people were rescued today, operations have been put on hold after a rise in levels of toxic gases on the volcano. The eruption covered a vast area in volcanic ash. Pictured are rescue workers trekking up the volcano in an attempt to locate trapped hikers. The rescue teams pictured descending an area not hit by ash, after they called off the search operation due to a rise in toxic fumes. Smoke emanating from the volcano as seen at dusk from the nearby Otaki Village, in Nagano, Japan. Pictured left, a plume of smoke billows into the sky above a set of cabins built on the volcano, while right, a group of rescuers traverse the slope. Some 5. 50 soldiers, police officers and firefighters were involved in a large scale search and rescue operation in a bid to save dozens of hikers who were thought to have been stranded on the volcano since it erupted without warning spewing ash, rocks and steam into a sunny autumn weekend busy with tourists and hikers. A suffocating blanket of ash up to 2. The mountain is popular among hikers particularly in late September as leaves turn their colours. Walkers at the top of the Japanese volcano were forced to run for their lives after it started to erupt without warning, sending a cloud of ash and rock streaming down the mountainside. Within seconds, the cloud covered an area more than two miles wide from the summit of Mount Ontake with witnesses claiming that visibility was reduced to zero. A survivor of the disaster is lifted from the ash by a helicopter. The rescue efforts have now been called off due to a high level of toxic gas emanating from the volcano. An injured hiker is carried into an ambulance in Kiso, Nagana after being airlifted out from the eruption zone. Pictured are mountain cottages and a shinto shrine on the volcano all of which is covered in a deep layer of volcanic ash. Pictured left, rescuer workers carry an injured hiker off the slopes, while right, another is airlifted into a helicopter. Police confirmed the missing hikers have been found near the summit of the volcano in a state of cardiac arrest and are feared dead. Some 2. 50 hikers were forced to run for their lives after Mount Ontake erupted yesterday lunchtime without any prior warning, covering the area in rock and ash. Seconds after the image left, visibility was reduced to almost zero as the walkers were engulfed in a cloud of volcanic dust and rock, right The ash cloud spread out immediately in every direction shooting thousands of feet into the sky before covering a two square mile area in dense, choking dust PYROCLASTIC FLOWS A DEADLY AVALANCHE OF GAS AND ROCKSThis diagram shows how the pyroclastic flow works its way down the slope, reaching incredible speeds and leaving huge rock deposits in its wake. Pyroclastic flows are one of the most destructive and deadly processes of a volcanic eruption. The flows act and look like a body of liquid but are actually composed of hot gas and rock. Formed inside the volcano by the fragmentation of magma and rocks during the eruption, they travel down the mountain slope at breakneck speeds, often incinerating everything in their path. The flows act as a fast moving current and appear similar to a snow avalanche when they burst from the volcano. These flows, composed of volcanic rock debris and toxic gases, are usually deadly as they can reach speeds over 1. Showtime Full Megan Is Missing Online Free. Although they are composed of gas and rock, the properties of pyroclastic flows mean they act more like a liquid. The heavier debris moves along the ground, covered by a gas plume which radiates upwards as it moves. Depending on the size of the rock debris carried within them, they can leave behind deep layers of rock fragments. The eruption at Mount Ontake likely triggered a pyroclastic surge, although it is thought to have been relatively cold when compared to some other documented flows. Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, Shigeo Aramak, told NHK World the colour of the debris clouds seen in the footage of the erupting Mount Ontake showed the temperature was relatively low for a pyroclastic flow, which may mean magma was not present.