GoPro cameras are well known for their seemingly indestructibility. Since their creation there have been stories of these action cameras surviving floods, fires, years under the ocean, and more abuse.
In the latest tale of durability, a GoPro was swallowed by lava and survived with the video intact.
Erik Storm captured this unique footage during a fresh lava flow in Hawaii. Storm, the lead guide with Kilauea EcoGuides, had been positioning his camera in small cracks and crevasses to capture the flow from a closer perspectives throughout the day.
Unfortunately, one crack proved to be a bit too close and the lava overflowed, consuming his camera. Storm was sure his gadget was toast as the thick flow engulfed the tiny camera, but he returned when the flow had cooled to see for himself.
“I was telling a story when the molten lava completely engulfed my GoPro (with housing on) and it caught on fire,” Storm said in an interview with PetaPixel. “I used a geology rock hammer to pull it out of the lava and thought it was a total loss.
Storm was shocked to discover the protective case successfully saved the camera inside from the 1,800 °F lava. After smashing away the cooled rock, Storm recovered the camera’s SD card and the video inside, which had captured the entire event.
Sadly, the camera no longer functions as well as it once did, but the fact that the video was successfully recovered is truly remarkable. The fateful moment begins around the 0:39 second mark in the video below.