GoPro camera videos itself being swallowed up by molten lava and surviving
Footage shows flames sparking as molten rock rolls towards and engulfs gadget
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Your support makes all the difference.A camera filmed itself being swallowed up by lava from Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano - and survived.
The resulting footage showed molten rock rolling towards the gadget which had been set up on the most active of the five volcanoes that form the archipelago's largest island, Hawai'i.
The GoPro camera is then engulfed by the liquid which typically reaches temperatures of between 700C to 1,200C, before flames spark around it.
Erik Storm, who runs tours on the volcano, said he been talking to tourists and when he realised the lava was flowing over his device.
He used a geological hammer pull it out of the scorching rock, but assumed the gadget was "a total loss".
But after chipping off the cooling rock at home, he found the camera still switched on - although it was no longer useable as the lens had melted.
But after removing the SD card from the camera, he found the video files had survived.
The camera's casing was badly damaged but seemingly protected the components inside in the short time the gadget was engulfed.
“The camera even still worked although not a well as it did before,” Mr Storm told photography blog PetaPixel. “Truly amazing it survived!”
The footage captured by the camera has been viewed nearly two million times on YouTube, prompting some to suggest the tour guide deliberately sacrificed his camera for the sake of a viral video.
But he said it was an "an honest accident that produced an amazing story".
"I am by no means rich," he said in a separate interview with product review site, CNet. "hy would I put a $400 camera in jeopardy intentionally?"
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