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By the time this pyroclastic flow hit its first human victims, it was still as hot as 680 °F (360 °C) and filled with suffocating gas and flying debris. [36] Most of the 57 people known to have died in that day's eruption succumbed to asphyxiation, while several died from burns. [9]
Most of the victims died in pyroclastic flows at approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) from the summit. [64] Bronggang, 14.5 km (9.0 mi) from the crater, had been designated as a safe zone. Soldiers joined the rescue operations there, pulling at least 78 bodies from homes and streets blanketed by ash 30 cm (12 in) deep.
Pyroclastic flows sweep down the flanks of Mayon Volcano, Philippines, in 2018. A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) [1] is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of 100 km/h (30 m/s; 60 mph) but is capable of reaching speeds up to ...
The area devastated by the pyroclastic cloud covered about 21 km 2 (8 sq mi), with the city of Saint-Pierre taking the brunt of the damage. At the time of the eruption, Saint-Pierre had a population of about 28,000, which had swollen with refugees from the minor explosions and mud flows first emitted by the volcano.
For around 12 hours after that, the volcano expelled a mountain of ash and pyroclastic flow — a current of hot gas and volcanic matter that travels quickly over the ground away from an eruption ...
The eruption produced pyroclastic flows that melted summit glaciers and snow, generating four thick lahars that raced down river valleys on the volcano's flanks, [27] destroying a small lake that was observed in Arenas' crater several months before the eruption. Water in such volcanic lakes tends to be extremely salty, and may contain dissolved ...
A volcanologist at the Bandung Institute of Technology said the eruption debris flow was an accumulation of material from past eruptions. Heavy rainfall eroded volcanic material on the summit, destabilizing the lava dome. [15] The collapsed dome triggered a series of pyroclastic flows that traveled down the slopes of the volcano. [16]
The vertical cloud plunged down the western slope of the volcano, raced down at 161 kilometers per hour, and destroyed Saint-Pierre in less than a minute. The area devastated by the pyroclastic flow covered about 21 km 2 (8.1 sq mi), with the city of Saint-Pierre taking its full brunt. The cloud consisted of superheated gases and fine debris ...