Good catch. They probably tried to flee, and took shelter in the closest possible place, then were asphyxiated, in the space of not very many minutes. If they hadn't been stopped by a Roman centurion trying to bust them about their misuse of grammar, they might have survived.
Pithy humor at its finest. Well done sir.
Perhaps you can post an article about laying (or lying) eggs some time.
I’ve often wondered how much warning time the citizens had regarding a potential eruption; days prior to the event, there must have been some tremors, excessive steam, etc,.
Remember when Mount Saint Helens blew its top in 1980… There was warning for a few weeks that something was imminent.
“… 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 700 km/h (190 m/s; 430 mph).[2] The gases and tephra can reach temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,800 °F)...”
Wikipedia
Yikes… hard to outrun that…