Number 10 Caroline Sundbaum In December of 2020, Portland woman Caroline
Sundbaum and her husband were skiing down Oregon’s Mount Hood, an active stratovolcano and the
state’s highest mountain. At some point during the trip, 35-year-old Sundbaum sat down on her pack
to rest and wait for her husband to come down from the summit. As she did so, the snow beneath
her suddenly gave way. She fell 15 feet into a fumarole, which is a vent in the side of a volcano
that emits steam and gases. The heat had melted the deeper snow, leaving behind only a thin layer,
which masked the hole. Sundbaum would’ve likely perished if not for the intervention of a climber.
He’d noticed a hole in the snow, in the same place where he’d seen the woman sitting earlier. He got
closer to investigate and then heard Sundbaum inside the cavity. The pair knew they had to
act quickly, as she was being exposed to the potentially deadly gases inside the vent. The
climber used a rope and hoisted her out of the fumarole. Sundbaum had dislocated a shoulder in
the fall but was otherwise unharmed. Number 9 Incident at Solfatara
Located near Naples, Italy, Solfatara is a dormant volcano that still emits jets of steam
with sulfurous fumes. Its name is actually a contraction of the words “sulpha terra”,
which translates as “land of sulfur”. Ancient Romans believed the site to be the home of Vulcan,
the God of Fire. Tourists often travel to the volcano to see its mud pools and fumaroles.
In 2017, Solfatara became the site of a tragic accident, in which three people
perished. Massimiliano Carrer and his partner, Tiziana Zaramella, along with their two children,
visited the volcano in September. The children had reportedly asked for the trip,
at the end of their family holiday, after learning about volcanoes in school. It was reported that
the couple’s eldest son, Lorenzo, had wandered into an area that was off-limits. However,
one eyewitness claimed that the family was on the official path. Whatever the case might’ve been,
Lorenzo then slipped into an unsecured 5-foot chasm. As Tiziana and Massimiliano rushed to
help him, the ground collapsed, causing them to fall into the volcano as well. Only inches beneath
the surface, the fields at Solfatara are steaming hot. All three are believed to have succumbed to
asphyxiation from the gases inside the chasm. The only one to survive the tragedy
was the couple’s youngest son, whom rescuers found crying near the scene of the accident.
Number 8 Unnamed Soldier In 2019, an unnamed man survived a fall into
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, which is one of the most active volcanoes on the planet. A year prior, the
volcano had erupted, destroying an estimated 700 homes, over an area of roughly 14 square miles.
According to a study by the journal Science, the eruption sequence had spewed enough lava
to fill 320,000 Olympic-sized pools. The victim of the 2019 incident, identified by the US Army
as a 32-year-old enlisted soldier, had climbed a barrier in order to get a better look at the
volcano’s caldera. The ground beneath him then started to crumble and he fell 70 feet from the
crater’s edge, stopping on a narrow rock ledge. The soldier survived the drop but had sustained
severe injuries. He was rescued in a high-angle extrication involving ropes, a stretcher and a
helicopter provided by the Department of Defense. According to later reports, the man’s condition
was updated from critical to stable. Number 7 Cecilia Cheng Siu-yan
In 2007, Hong Kong woman Cecilia Cheng Siu-yan died after falling inside an active volcano,
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 33-year-old Cheng Siu-yan had climbed over
the rim of Mount Nyiragongo’s main crater, in an attempt to get a better view of its lava lake.
Siu-yan then slipped from the edge of the towering volcano and fell into the crater, more than
650 feet. She came to a rest on a rock ledge above the lava lake. Poor visibility hindered
immediate rescue attempts and a helicopter eventually spotted the woman’s lifeless body.
A team of UN peacekeepers, along with an expert volcanologist, was later dispatched to Nyiragongo
in an attempt to recover Siu-yan’s remains. Number 6 Unnamed Hawaii Man
In November of 2019, an unnamed man from Hilo, Hawaii fell to his death in a lava tube on his
property. The underground channel, left behind by the flow of lava, was hidden beneath a patch
of soft ground. The authorities were called to the man’s home as he hadn’t been heard from in several
days. Upon their arrival, they found his body in the cave-like tube, about 22 feet deep. The man
was reportedly trying to trim some branches in his yard when he stepped on the shallow surface
and collapsed inside. An autopsy would later rule that the deceased 71-year-old’s injuries
were consistent with falling from height. Number 5 Rodolfo Alvarez
In February of 2017, an Argentinian volcanologist survived after falling into the crater of the
Masaya Volcano, in Nicaragua. Due to its constant emission of sulfur dioxide, it’s often studied by
experts seeking to better understand volcanic behavior. 60-year-old Rodolfo Alvarez and his
Nicaraguan guide, 25-year-old Adriac Valladares, were working just over the crater’s lip when their
rope broke. The men slid roughly 1,500 feet inside the crater. After becoming stranded,
both suffered from dehydration, caused by the volcano’s high temperatures. Fortunately,
Alvarez and Valladares were ultimately rescued, in stable condition, by firemen equipped with
ropes and harnesses. Number 4 John Slemp
The eruption of Mount St. Helens, on May the 18th of 1980, is regarded as the deadliest volcanic
eruption in the history of the US. 57 lives were lost and at least 250 homes were destroyed
in addition to the obliteration of railways, bridges and highways. The eruption reduced
the elevation of St. Helens’ summit by over 1,300 feet and left behind a crater,
in the shape of a horseshoe, roughly 1 mile wide. In 2008, John Slemp became the first person to
fall in the volcano since the formation of its new crater. The 52-year-old man,
from Damascus, Oregon, was visiting the mountain with his son and a family friend.
They rode snowmobiles up the crater’s rim and took in the view from an overhanging shelf of snow.
They never got closer than 10 to 20 feet from the edge but the cornice collapsed and Slemp started
sliding into the crater. His son would’ve fallen with him as well if not for the intervention of
their companion. Slemp dropped 200 feet and came to a stop on a snow shelf inside the crater. As he
tried to climb back up, the snow beneath him fell apart once more and he fell an additional 1,500
feet. A rescue helicopter was dispatched to the area and Slemp was pulled to safety. Remarkably,
he only had a hyperextended leg along with some cuts and bruises. Slemp would later attribute his
miraculous survival to pure luck, claiming that he wasn’t in control of the situation at any point.
Number 3 Swedish Tourist
In March of 2010, an unnamed Swedish tourist died after falling into a volcano
on the island of Bali, Indonesia. The 25-year-old man and a few of his friends had climbed
Mount Batur in a pre-dawn hike, as they wanted to see the sunrise from the rim of its crater.
Located roughly 40 miles north-east of the island’s provincial capital, Batur is an
active volcano that regularly lets off steam. Over a dozen villages populate the caldera which
has become a popular tourist attraction because of the straightforward trek to the top of the
central crater. The route is considered safe and accidents on it are uncommon. After the tourist
and his friends reached the summit, he reportedly tried to take a closer look at the dry crater.
That’s when he took a misstep and plummeted roughly 500 feet. The authorities believed
that the young man died on impact and efforts were subsequently made to retrieve his body.
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Number 2 Mount Mihara
In the early 20th century, Mount Mihara, on the Japanese island of Izu Ōshima,
gained a dark reputation. Near the top of its cone, the active volcano featured a vantage point
from where it was possible to look directly into its crater. This, starting with the 1920s, made
Mount Mihara a popular destination for people looking to take their own life.
One such story involves 21-year-old Kiyoko Matsumoto, who committed suicide at the
volcano in 1933. She’d fallen in love with fellow Jissen Women’s University student,
Masako Tomita. Their relationship was considered taboo in Japanese society at the time. Matsumoto,
distraught by the forbidden love, took her own life by jumping into the active volcano. When the
news broke, the young woman became a posthumous celebrity and her suicide note was printed in
newspapers. The incident led to a rise in the number of suicides occurring at Mount Mihara.
In 1936 alone over 600 people reportedly jumped into the crater. The authorities ultimately built
a fence around the base of the vantage point, in an effort to curb the number of suicides.
Number 1 Ol Doinyo Lengai Incident In 2007, a man survived after
plummeting into a pool of lava at the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano, in Tanzania.
Ol Doinyo Lengai, which in Maasai translates as “Mountain of God”, is considered unique among
active volcanoes due to the composition of its lava. Instead of being rich in silicate minerals,
it contains sodium and potassium carbonates. Because of its unique carbonatite composition,
it erupts at comparatively lower temperatures than silicate lavas, generally reaching 950 F. Because
of this, it doesn’t have the characteristic red glow and instead appears black in sunlight. Ol
Doinyo Lengai lava is also much less viscous, meaning that it flows at a faster rate.
While giving a tour, in 2007, a Maasai porter fell into a crater and made contact with the
active lava flow. Remarkably, he was able to climb out of the lava pit on his own. The porter
was hospitalized with severe burns on his arms and legs but ultimately recovered. The unique
make up of Ol Doinyo Lengai lava played a major role in him escaping with his life.
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