Intense heat killed Pompeii residents
The people of Pompeii who died when Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago were killed by intense heat
Rome: The people of Pompeii who died when Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago were killed by intense heat rather than suffocation, according to a new study.
Thousands of the Roman city's inhabitants were caught in a firestorm in which they were exposed to temperatures of up to 600C, a team of Italian scientists believe. The temperatures would have killed fleeing people in just 10 seconds, according to the volcanologists and anthropologists from Naples, the city overshadowed by the volcano.
"Contrary to what was thought up until now, the victims didn't suffer a prolonged agony from suffocation, but rather died instantaneously from the exposure to high temperatures," the team wrote in a science journal, PLoS ONE.
