KALAPANA, HI (EcoGuides/CNN) – Amazing, up-close videoo of a tour guide's Go-Pro becoming engulfed in a lava flow in Hawaii.
Erik Storm was guiding a tour for in Kalapana back in August of 2016 when he placed the camera in the crevice.
"I was telling a story about the Polynesian goddess Pele to my guests when my GoPro was hit by the lava," he said in an interview with CNet. He also said he’s enthusiastic about what he does and gets caught up in the tour.
The lava overtakes the camera and its waterproof casing and catches on fire.
Storm says he used a rock hammer to extract the camera after the lava began to cool and harden.
He thought it had surely been destroyed, but was amazed to see the blue WiFi light still blinking. He popped out the SD card and the vide was intact.
Storm has rejected accusations that the incident was staged.
He says the 2016 video is just now getting attention because a professional photographer he recently spoke to wanted to feature it in a story on PetaPixel, a website that features photography.
"I am by no means rich, why would I put a $400 camera in jeopardy intentionally? And if I did this to gain attention why would I have not tried to get all that attention back in August of 2016 when this happened?" he told CNet.
Storm, who works for Kalapana EcoGuides, emphasizes not to try anything like this, and to be safe around volcanoes.
Copyright 2017 Kalapana EcoGuides via CNN. All rights reserved.
