7 Dead, Santa Barbara Man Missing in Japan Eruption

TOKYO —  A volcano belched searing gases, ash and hot rocks onto a small community in southwestern Japan on Monday, killing at least seven people and setting dozens of homes ablaze. Thirty other people, including a UC Santa Barbara researcher, were reported missing.

Most of those unaccounted for--including 16 journalists--were people who had been expected to report in: police officers, firefighters, taxi drivers.

The UC Santa Barbara researcher, Harry Glicken, 33, had narrowly escaped death on Mt. St. Helens in the May 18, 1980, eruption in Washington state, according to Edward Keller, professor of geology and environmental studies at UCSB.

The night before the eruption, Glicken left a one-man observation post located eight miles from the section of Mt. St. Helens that exploded, Keller said.

The following morning, when the eruption occurred, the post was destroyed and the researcher who relieved Glicken was killed, Keller said.

Japan officials said the risk of further eruptions made it impossible for them to search the area to determine the true toll.

A military rescue helicopter spotted six bodies near a river early Tuesday, Kyodo News Service said. The bodies could not be retrieved because of their proximity to the searing debris.

The news service said a 25-year-old policeman was killed in his patrol car as he tried to warn residents to leave.

White clouds of steam boiled up hundreds of yards into the sky, and television reports Tuesday showed parts of the mountain still ablaze with lava flows.

The volcano, Mt. Unzen, caused landslides and tidal waves that killed 15,000 people when it erupted 200 years ago--Japan’s worst volcanic disaster. It is among 19 active volcanoes in Japan listed as dangerous.

Police and firefighters said 20 people were injured, and 15 of them were seriously burned by lava.

Authorities ordered about 5,000 people evacuated Monday from the area. The volcano began its latest series of eruptions May 24.

Glicken is nationally known for his research into the blasts of large volcanoes and has spent the past several months conducting research for the Tokyo Metropolitan University, Keller said.

“His whole life is studying volcanoes,” he added said.

Glicken’s mother, who lives in Los Angeles, has been notified that he is missing.