The five hours that could have saved Pompeii's victims who were turned to glass: Ancient Romans survived initial eruption before agonising death, new minute-by-minute account reveals
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The eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 was one of the most deadly volcanic events in history, killing up to 16,000 people. Now, researchers have revealed a minute-by-minute account of how the devastation unfolded across an agonising 32-hour period.
![[Around 2,000 people died in Pompeii and 300 are known to have died in Herculaneum, however, the entire death toll could have been around]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/23/13/94433597-14316549-This_eerie_image_shows_a_body_from_Pompeii_in_a_contorted_positi-a-16_1737640533413.jpg)
It all began at about 12pm on the 24th day of August or October AD 79. The 2,000ft volcano, located in the Gulf of Naples, started spewing a cloud of rocky volcanic fragments and gas into the air, known as the 'eruption column'. From 2pm, chunks of pumice – a porous volcanic rock formed when a gas-rich froth of glassy lava solidifies rapidly – measuring up to nine feet thick rained down.
![[Man in sitting position, killed in the eruption, in storage at Pompeii. Remains of the city are now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/23/13/94433595-14316549-Man_in_sitting_position_killed_in_the_eruption_in_storage_at_Pom-a-22_1737640533485.jpg)
This fiery shower would have crushed buildings and residents in Pompeii, Herculaneum and other nearby settlements – but some would have survived at this point by taking shelter. However, five hours later, at 7.06pm, the devastation really ramped up when the volcano launched the first 'pyroclastic currents' – the deadly hot and fast-moving flows of gas and volcanic particles.
![[Artist's depiction of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius at Pompeii. The ancient Roman city was about six miles away from the volcano]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/23/13/94433581-14316549-Artist_s_depiction_of_the_eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_at_Pompeii_-a-23_1737640533486.jpg)
These scalding-hot currents vaporised inhabitants and even turned human tissue into glass in a process known as vitrification. After the eruption, bodies of the victims at Pompeii were famously preserved in a protective shell of ash before they eventually decayed. Since the mid 1800s, the voids that these bodies left behind were eventually filled with plaster casts to recreate their final moments (pictured).
![[Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/27/12/4B9C35CA00000578-5664741-Mount_Vesuvius_erupted_in_the_year_AD_79_burying_the_cities_of_P-a-3_1524829504926.jpg)
