(AP) — The victims include hiking enthusiasts from a major insurance company. Members of a group of nature lovers studying wild plants. A construction manager who snapped about 100 photos — found on his scratched and dented camera — to show his wife what she was missing because she had to work that day.

More than 50 people died when Mount Ontake, a popular hiking destination in central Japan, erupted without warning on Sept. 27 in the country's deadliest volcanic eruption since World War II.

Together, they paint a typical picture of weekend recreational hikers in Japan. A few children and senior citizens, but mostly middle-aged working people enjoying the first Saturday of the fall foliage season.

Most were between 30 and 59 years old, and lived within a few hours' drive or train ride from the mountain. Three were children, and only five were 60 or older.

"The best season for the leaves just started, the weather was beautiful, it was the weekend, and it was lunchtime," said Masahito Ono, a Nagano prefecture tourism official.

Hiking has become one of Japan's most popular outdoor activities. The core fans are middle-aged climbers with some experience, but there are a growing number of beginners: health-conscious senior citizens and fashionable women who sport a casual "mountain girl" look. The number of hikers in Nagano surged to 730,000 last year, a 30 percent increase from five years ago.

With modest slopes and a ropeway that takes visitors part way up, 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake is one of the easier climbs in the region, recommended as a day-trip for beginners. Several hundred people are believed to have been on the mountain when it erupted at 11:52 a.m.

Rescuers have found 51 bodies, and at least a dozen other people are still missing. Most of the bodies were found at the summit, with others on a trail a short way down.

Hideomi Takahashi, 41, was among nine climbers from a major Japanese insurance company, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings Inc. They worked at two branches near Tokyo. Only three survived.

At Takahashi's funeral on Thursday, his family showed a close friend an iPhone with at least six photos from what would be the last few minutes of his life: a cotton candy-like cloud floating next to the mountain in a clear blue sky, a sacred gate to a mountaintop shrine, some of his colleagues making their way up. The last photo, apparently shot by a colleague, shows Takahashi standing next to the "Mount Ontake summit" sign, giving a thumbs-up.

"When I saw the iPhone still worked, I thought it's like a miracle," said the friend Hiroyuki, who asked that only his first name be used after he was criticized online for posting some of the photos on Twitter. He has since taken the tweets down.

Takahashi seems happy in the final photo, but he's not quite smiling. "Maybe he saw signs of the eruption," Hiroyuki said, adding he has trouble accepting that his best friend died, leaving behind his wife and two children.

Construction company employee Izumi Noguchi, 59, was climbing alone, as his usual hiking companion, his wife, Hiromi, had to work, she told Japanese broadcaster NHK and other TV stations. His compact camera was banged up, but the memory chip inside was undamaged. She printed all 100 shots. The last one is of an enormous plume billowing from the crater behind a mountaintop lodge.

"This is an amazing photo. But I wish he had fled instead of taking pictures. I'd rather have him back," Hiromi said. "I hope to hike up there someday, perhaps 10 years later. I want to see what my husband saw."

Yasuo Ito, 54, didn't even have time to eat the lunch he packed.

His wife, also named Hiromi, told NHK that Ito, a prefecture-funded housing agency employee, was among six members from a nature conservation volunteer group. Only three survived.

She identified his body Thursday and received his ash-coated knapsack. She pulled out a lunchbox, which survived despite cracks on a side, then opened the top. His handmade egg salad sandwiches were untouched.

"Poor thing, he should have eaten this," she said. "He must be getting hungry by now."

(AP) — Toxic gases and ash from still-erupting Mount Ontake forced Japanese rescue workers to call off the search for more victims Monday as dozens of relatives awaited news of their family members.

Rescuers found five more bodies near the summit of the volcano, bringing the death toll to 36. They have managed to airlift only 12 bodies off the mountain since the start of the eruption on Saturday because of dangerous conditions.

How the victims died remains unclear, though experts say it was probably from suffocating ash, falling rocks, toxic gases or some combination of them. Some of the bodies had severe contusions.

Survivors told Japanese media that they were pelted by rocks from the eruption. One man said he fled with others to the basement of a lodge, fearing that the rocks would penetrate the roof.

Yuji Tsuno, a veteran mountain photographer, was near the summit. After taking pictures of the initial explosion as ash and debris rained down, he quickly took refuge in a nearby hut, he told the TBS TV network.

About 20 minutes later, when the smoke partially subsided, he rushed out and began his descent. It was a gamble, but he believed it was his only chance, he said.

"I almost thought it was the end of my life," he said in the interview.

On his way down, he spotted a man heading up. "I told him to go down with me, but he said he had to check on his child up there. I couldn't stop him," Tsuno said.

The eruption caught seismologists by surprise. Although somewhat increased seismic activity had been recorded for about two weeks, there were no indications of a major eruption, said Satoshi Deguchi, a Japan Meteorological Agency official in Nagano prefecture. Typical signs, such as increased seismic rattling or underground structural movement, were not detected.

Japanese TV showed soldiers carrying a series of body bags on Monday morning to a 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 and then taken to a small 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.

More than 200 soldiers and firefighters, including units with gas detection equipment, were part of the search mission near the peak, said Katsunori Morimoto, an official in the village of Otaki.

The effort was halted because of an increase in toxic gas and ash as the volcano continued to spew fumes, he said, adding that the rescuers reported a strong smell of sulfur.

The eruption was the first fatal one in modern times at the 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) mountain, a popular climbing destination 210 kilometers (130 miles) west of Tokyo. An eruption occurred in 1979, but no one died.

The mountain began erupting at perhaps the worst possible time, with at least 250 people taking advantage of a beautiful fall Saturday to go for a hike. The blast spewed large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky, blotted out the midday sun and blanketed the surrounding area in ash.

Hundreds were initially trapped on the slopes, though most made their way down by Saturday night.

About 40 people who were stranded overnight came down on Sunday. Many were injured, and some had to be rescued by helicopters or carried down on stretchers.

Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 59 people had been injured, including 27 seriously. It was trying to determine if any people were still missing.

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday a new global agreement on climate change must include strong commitments from emerging economies and move past the rich-poor country divide that has hampered progress in United Nations negotiations.

Obama addressed the U.N. climate change summit with a statement meant to build political momentum for a global deal on climate change in 2015 and a list of commitments his administration has made to address.

He said a "global compact" needs to include strong commitments from some of the world's emerging economies because the amount of greenhouse gases they emit increases as their economies grow.

"This time we need an agreement that reflects economic realities in the next decade and beyond," Obama said.

"It must be ambitious because that’s what the scale of this challenge demands."

Obama said that prior to taking the podium, he met with China's vice premier Zhang Gaoli and they agreed that the world's two biggest emitters "have a responsibility to lead."

China surpassed the United States in 2007 as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter.

Following Obama's remarks, Zhang said China would aim to cap emissions or have them peak "as early as possible." The issue is critical to U.N. negotiations. Some Chinese government advisers said this could happen after 2030.

The minister also said China would double annual financial support for a fund specifically created for developing countries to help other developing countries become more resilient to climate change.

Leaders mostly did not disclose specifics about the plans they are due to unveil next year, ahead of Paris climate talks scheduled for December 2015.

In response to a request by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for some indication of country plans, Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK is aiming to cut its greenhouse emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and to push the European Union to target a 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2030.

Some leaders announced financial commitments to help smooth the path to a 2015 agreement, with French President Francois Hollande saying his country would inject $1 billion into the Green Climate Fund. South Korean President Park Geun-hye pledged to contribute up to $100 million to that fund and Mexico said it would kick in $10 million.

"We will push everyone, large and small, rich and poor, into a 2015 global agreement in Paris that will deepen our initial efforts and break through challenges," said Marshall Islands President Christopher Loeak.