Hikers Race To Escape Mount Ontake Volcano Eruption In Harrowing Video

It was a hike that began under sparkling blue morning skies and turned into terror shortly before noon.

Watch above as climbers try to escape the volcanic eruption Saturday of Mount Ontake in Japan. A gray cloud of ash descends upon them, turning visibility to almost nothing. Toward the end we hear labored breathing and coughing.

Associated Press noted the video in an earlier report on the eruption, writing, "In a video posted on YouTube, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as an expanding plume of ash emerges above and then engulfs them."

The translated YouTube description notes there was a refuge hut nearby. The Huffington Post reached out to the poster for more details.

As of Sunday morning, at least 30 hikers were believed to have died. An estimated 250 people were near the peak when the eruption began, the Guardian reported.

Associated Press wrote that military helicopters had rescued seven more stranded hikers Sunday morning, and workers were helping others make their way down the mountain by foot.

Mount Ontake, about 10,000 feet high, is located about 130 miles west of Tokyo.

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