TOKYO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Rescue officials suspended a search operation Wednesday at a ski resort close to a volcano that erupted in eastern Japan a day earlier due to volcanic tremors, local media reported.
While the number of volcanic tremors has decreased since the eruption of Mt. Kusatsu-Shirane in Gunma Prefecture on Tuesday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has warned that the volcano could erupt again.
There were 400 volcanic earthquakes in the first five hours after the eruption but none were detected from midnight to 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the JMA said.
Firefighters and police had been searching for people that may still be engulfed in the snow after the volcano triggered an avalanche at the nearby Kusatsu Kokusai Ski Resort, but the search was temporally halted on Wednesday morning, local media quoted rescue officials as saying.
The search will be resumed when conditions are deemed stable, the JMA said.
A 49-year-old Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) sergeant major on a ski training operation at the resort was killed by volcanic rocks being launched in the eruption at 9:59 a.m. local time Tuesday, and 11 others were injured in the event, the GSDF and prefectural officials said.
The JMA has kept its alert level at 3 from a maximum of 5, warning of further possible eruptions.
There are 110 active volcanoes in Japan and the weather agency permanently monitors 47 of them.
In September 2014, 63 people were killed on Mt. Ontake, on the border between Nagano and Gifu prefectures, in the worst volcanic disaster in Japan in nearly 90 years.
