A personal account of the day of destruction

Recent findings have given clues to the last hours that Lupercus lived during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried the city of Pompeii. Lupercus was only identified by the bronze seal that he carried with him that night that declared him to be an imperial slave. As Lupercus thought that he would be safe from the heat and mud spewing out of Vesuvius as he was on the beach, near the water, along with many other citizens of Pompeii. He watched as Vesuvius continued to send out ash, rocks, burning bits and mud and thought that it was going to be a long night and he would have a lot to do when it was over to get the gardens at the villa that belonged to the emperor Caligula. Some of the people on the beach decided to find shelter in the boat houses and others decided to rest on the beach while watching Vesuvius. Lupercus went into the shelter that was for the men. Inside the shelter he saw the doctor with his bag of medical supplies and a soldier that was in full gear. They had nothing to do but wait. The men sat together and talked late into the night. A bolt of heat, similar to lightening, struck and all the men were gone in a tangle of bodies. There was a young couple that Lupercus had observed across the water that were laying on the beach with the man's arm around the woman. They were solidified on the beach in this way.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/history/history_04.html