Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE SKELETAL REMAINS of what are believed to have been a rich man and his slave fleeing the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago have been discovered in Pompeii, officials at the archaeological park said.
The partial skeletons were found during excavation of an elegant villa on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city that was destroyed by the eruption in 79AD.
It is the same area where a stable with the remains of three harnessed horses was excavated in 2017.
Pompeii officials said the two men apparently escaped the initial fall of ash, then succumbed to a powerful volcanic blast that took place the following day.
Casts were created of the entire skeletons, taking advantage of the impressions the shape of the victims made in the hardened ash.
Judging by cranial bones and skull, one of the victims was a youth, probably aged 18 to 25, with a spinal column with compressed discs.
That finding led archaeologists to hypothesise that the young man did manual labour, like that of a slave.
The other victim, found nearby, had a robust bone structure, especially in his chest area, and probably was about 30 to 40 years old, the Pompeii officials said.
Both skeletons were found in a corridor, which led to a staircase to the upper level of the villa.
Based on the impression of fabric folds left in the ash layer, it appeared the younger man was wearing a short, pleated tunic, possibly of wool.
The older victim, in addition to wearing a tunic, appeared to have had a mantle over his left shoulder.
While excavations continue at the site near Naples, tourists are currently barred from the archaeological park under national anti-coronavirus measures.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Awful sad. Thoughts with the families.
A good few Irish lads out in Dubai working for their engineering and maintenance department. Thinking of Ye lads. For all the armchair crash investigators, no pilot takes off with the thought that his actions will kill all on board. I’ll keep my opinions until after we have an crash investigation report. RIP.
You are forgetting the actions of Andreas Lubitz then.
True
@tom burke, my connection with the ‘manx2′ crash was budget airline & it says the plane was ‘circling’ for 2hrs when other planes had diverted but obviously this crew were under pressure to land at that airport as were the crew of ‘manx2′ flight
Sounds like a similar chain of events that caused the ‘manx2′ flight to crash in cork a few years ago,
Manx crashed in poor visibility, not stormy conditions. Indeed when it is foggy it is rarely windy.
Not that similar.
Ahh tom the aviation expert is back ..
Ah Chris
I’m merely stating facts.
In fact I’m one of the few who is not speculating.
Sorry for pointing out the obvious Tom, but in stating that this crash is not that similar to the manx crash, you’re speculating on the precise cause(s) of this crash.
Avina
You are making this painful.
I never speculated anything about the cause of the crash. All I’m doing is pointing out the facts that the weather in this incident and the weather in the Cork incident were very different.
I’m not speculating. I’m dealing with facts. There is a big difference.
Lubitz was a co-pilot. I am aware of this incident and others where members of the flight crew flew the aircraft into terrain. Hope that made your day pointing that out
Whatever pal.
There’s a video out there purporting to be of this plane crash. Doesn’t look like any accidental crash in bad weather I’ve ever seen. Plane comes down hard and fast on an almost 90 degree angle.
Sounds like poor judgement alright. Pressure to land instead of divert. If bad weather then should have diverted to airport with ILS. The mistake was the 2 hours circling…ate up the divert allowance.
We simply don’t know.
It’s all speculation at this stage.
But we do know its rarely foggy and windy at the same time …lol….but that is correct
It is correct Chris. Glad you came around.
There is footage of it from cctv and it looks like it nose dived into the ground? It looks nothing like a plane missing the runway. Rip to all souls lost.
Shocking. Know a few pilots down there.
6h30m flying a 738 with one confirmed and a possible second go around? Fuel?
Could of course be off the mark but if you listen to communication with ATC there’s no mention of fuel. All conversations relate to weather. That said bigger and better airlines cut it fine with fuel so hardly out of the question. It’s saying the wing hit the ground which could mean wind but it’s coming in very steep and very fast. So I could be pilot error. I’d say it’s best to leave it to the experts.
Magoo he meant anyone in their right mind you clown
The speculation police are out in force today.
Ya watch one series of air crash investigator and people become experts!!!
@quiggers im not trying to be an aviation expert nor an air crash investigation expert but like yourself i do have friends in that field & i do read all these reports from accidents so i do have to a ‘certain extent’ & i use that very carefully understand the reasons behind these incidents
How do you know the captain made any “fatal decision” ?
@ Helena…
I wish the journal got their facts right! Poor journalism, that’s what it’s called. Not ALL passengers were Russian: 44 were Russian, 2 Indians, 8 Ukranians & 1 Uzbek. The crew consisted of a captain from Cyprus (who made the fatal decision to land instead of diverting, did he think he was invisible and will be able to land when many other planes decided to divert?!), co-pilot from Spain, air hostess from Colombia and the rest of the crew from the Seychelles. More accurate info is here: http://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/world/how-is-the-weather-sir-audio-of-final-cockpit-conversation-of-doomed-flydubai-738-jet-before-crash-in-poor-visibility/ar-BBqGnJX?li=AAaxjhv
Invisible?
I have no idea what that word means in this context.
have your say