A Japanese soldier was killed on Tuesday after a volcano erupted near a popular Japanese ski resort, sparking an avalanche that left several injured and scores stranded up a mountain, officials said. Footage broadcast on Japanese television showed thick black smoke interspersed with falling rocks rolling down the snow-covered side of the volcano towards a ski slope.
"One of the six members of the Self Defence Forces (injured in the incident) has died after being caught up in an avalanche," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP. The ministry had earlier said that six infantry personnel who had been on a training mission on Mt. Kusatsu Shirane, northwest of Tokyo, were hit by the avalanche but had been rescued.