A group of climbers filmed themselves running for their lives after being caught on a volcano when it unexpectedly erupted.

Several climbers were scaling Mount Ontake in Japan this morning when it suddenly erupted, injuring at least eight people and leaving another 250 stranded near the peak, Japan Times reports.

One group were filming as they tried to flee the approaching ash cloud before it engulfed them.

The hiker who posted the video said the team managed to find shelter in a nearby hut, and local officials report that no one was killed due to the eruption.

However several commenters have expressed fear that the thick cloud of hot ash could do serious damage to hikers’ lungs.

Huichi Mukai, who runs a mountain lodge near the summit of Mount Ontake, said: ‘There was a thunderlike noise and the sky became dark because of the smoke.

‘There is now 15cm of ash on the ground.’

Mount Ontake, which sits in the centre of the Japanese islands, roughly 200km West of Tokyo, experienced its last major eruption in 1979 and is Japan’s second largest volcano.