Japan volcano toll rises to 36

According to reports, there were at least 150 hikers on the mountain at the time when volcano erupted without any warning.

About 30 hikers were rescued in critical condition during two days.

"The climbers were found when rescue operations resumed after fears of fresh eruptions and toxic gas prevented rescue efforts on Saturday," Japanese News Agency Kyodo reported on Sunday.

More than 500 rescuers had been combing the summit, ploughing through knee-deep ash.

But on Monday the authorities abandoned the rescue mission after levels of toxic gas increased which forced the rescuers to climb down the mountain.

Now that the rescue mission has been called off, the fate of the missing hikers is more of less sealed.

It is expected that the death toll will rise once the bodies of the missing hikers are recovered.

Mount Ontake in central Japan erupted shortly before noon (Japanese local time) on Saturday, releasing large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky.

The eruption of the 3,067-metre (10,062-feet) volcano, 200 km (125 miles) west of Tokyo, took place as the popular hiking site was packed with climbers, including children.

Hikers said there was no warning of Saturday's eruption.

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.

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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday has expressed sadness at the volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan.

"News of a volcanic eruption at Mount Ontake in Japan is quite saddening. My prayers with the affected," the Prime Minister said.