The bodies were flown

At least 31 people are believed to have died. Four victims were flown down Sunday, and rescuers had returned to 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mt. Ontake to try to recover the remaining 27. Exactly how they died remains unclear, whether from gases, suffocating ash, falling rocks or other causes. Scenes broadcast live on Japanese TV station TBS showed soldiers carrying yellow body bags one-by-one to a camouflage military helicopter that had landed in a relatively wide-open area of the now bleak landscape, its rotors still spinning. The bodies were flown to a nearby athletic field, its green grass and surrounding forested hills contrasting with Mt. Ontake's ash-gray peak in the background, a reduced plume still emerging from its crater. The bodies were then taken to a small, two-story wooden elementary school in the nearby town of Kiso, where they were being examined in the gymnasium. Family members of the missing waited at a nearby municipal hall. Nagoya University volcanologist Koshun Yamaoka said at a news conference Sunday. Volcanoes can also kill by spewing toxic gases and lung-choking ash.