Some 280 of the remaining residents of Miyake left the island aboard a ferry Saturday afternoon, in accordance with an evacuation order issued by local officials the previous day as fears rose that islanders could be injured by falling rocks superheated by volcanic activity and ash thrown out from Mount Oyama.
Local officials from Miyake village dispatched 10 of the municipality's buses to collect residents from the 55-sq.-km island and transfer them to the port of Miike to board ships bound for metropolitan Tokyo, about 200 km to the north, they said.
Loudspeakers across the island relayed messages informing residents of the mandatory evacuation from 7 a.m. The first vessel, the liner Sutoretia Maru, left Miyake shortly after 3 p.m. with 284 evacuees and seven village officials aboard. Elderly islanders, as well as those requiring medical care, were given priority in boarding the ships.