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Featured Image Credit: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images / findagrave.com
Joe Harker
A man who was caught in the most destructive volcanic eruption in US history left behind some haunting final words but his body was never discovered.
On 18 May, 1980, Mount St. Helens in the US' Washington State erupted after a couple of months of major activity, and turned hundreds of square miles of the surrounding terrain into wasteland.
The eruption also claimed the lives of thousands of animals in the area, and around 57 people were killed.
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There has long been some confusion over the actual death toll after two listed victims of the eruption were reported missing and the investigation found two people with their names, but they couldn't be sure whether or not they were the same who'd been listed as victims of Mount St. Helens.
One confirmed victim of the volcanic eruption was 64-year-old radio operator Gerry Martin, who had driven his motor home to the volcano the day before the eruption to help monitor volcanic activity.
He was one of several people who'd journeyed to Mount St. Helens to help study the volcano and tragically ended up in the path of its historically unmatched destructive eruption.
Others who died trying to record the volcanic activity included volcanologist David A. Johnston and photographers Reid Blackburn and Robert Landsburg.
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Landsburg's film survived the eruption that killed him partly because his body protected it and the pictures he took ended up being important to the study of volcanoes.
As for Gerry Martin, his final words were recorded after he saw Johnston's location become consumed by the blast.
He'd previously been calling out developments from the eruption as he described it heading for him, saying: "The whole northwest section, north section is blowing up. Coming up over the ridge towards me
"I'm gonna back outta here."
However, the 64-year-old was unfortunately not able to drive out of the path of the pyroclastic flow and then spoke his final recorded words.
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Sheltering in his motor home, Gerry's final words indicated that he knew he was about to die as he said: "Gentlemen, the camper and car that’s sitting over to the south of me is covered.
"It’s going to hit me, too. We can't get out of here."
Neither Gerry's body nor the wreckage of his motor home were ever found but it is likely that he was consumed by the clouds of volcanic ash.
Most of the victims of the volcanic eruption died from asphyxiation, while others are thought to have been burned to death.