NHK released a video showing the volcano spewing thick, gray smoke into the air."Seven people were slightly injured and one person suffered serious injuries as a result of the eruption," Makoto Hasegawa of the Nagano prefecture fire department told Reuters."Airplanes are diverting their flying routes to avoid the ash cloud," he added.
Japan's Meteorological Agency declared a level 3 volcano alert on a 1 to 5 scale, which means people are advised to stay away from the mountain. The agency warned that the debris from the volcano could fall as far as 4 kilometers away.
Channel News Asia cited an official of the Nagano prefecture fire department as saying that the casualty numbers may rise as new reports arrive.
Stratovolcano Ontake (Ontake-san) is the second highest volcano in Japan at 3,067 meters. It is also a popular destination for religious pilgrimages.
It was inactive until 1979, but then it underwent a series of eruptions. The latest was in 2007.
a few days ago there were also significant size earthquakes in Japan , adding support to the theory that the two phenomena are connected. Read "Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection" for more discussion on the causal chain of such events.