Archaeologists discover man who miraculously survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius — then got crushed by a boulder

In a real-world example of "out of the frying pan and into the fire," archaeologists have found the body of a man who miraculously survived the first eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., only to be crushed by a giant boulder while making his escape from Pompeii, CNN reports.

Hundreds of Pompeiians were obliterated in an instant when "a 100-miles-per-hour surge of superheated poison gas and pulverized rock … poured down the side of the mountain and swallowed everything and everyone in its path," History writes. The man, whose remains indicate he was approximately 30 and had a bone infection in his leg, was likely limping down an alley after the initial eruption when he was hit by a massive rock, possibly thrown at him by the force of the volcanic eruption.

Collision with the stone, which weighs more than 600 pounds, evidently beheaded the ancient man. "Archeologists found the rock sticking out of the ground at an angle, with the remains of the man protruding and intact from the chest down," The Telegraph writes.

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Massimo Osanna, who is the director general of the site where the body was found, did not downplay the cause of death, calling it "dramatic and exceptional."