The casts of some victims in the so-called "Garden of the Fugitives", Pompeii

Death in an instant

During the fourth surge, temperatures reached about 300 °C, enough to kill in a fraction of a second.

Mount Vesuvius 79 AD: How Pyroclastic Surges Killed

View of ancient ruins in Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background, Italy.

Walls fall, towns vanish

Surges 4 and 5 knocked down walls and finished Pompeii, while Herculaneum was buried under 23 m of deposits. Currents incinerated or suffocated anyone left.

Mount Vesuvius 79 AD: How Pyroclastic Surges Killed

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