Splash Down

Watch a Drone Get Obliterated by an Erupting Volcano

Fagradalsfjall was ready for its closeup.
A YouTuber sent a drone to investigate an erupting volcano in Iceland. Unfortunately, the drone didn't survive the perilous trip.
Image: Toby Elliott via Unsplash / Futurism

Pour One Out

A drone that was sent to investigate an erupting volcano met an unfortunate end. But thankfully, it caught its own demise on video.

YouTuber Joey Helms flew a camera drone up to Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano to get a close-up look at the eruption. But the volcano, which has been erupting since March according to the BBC, had other plans, and engulfed the drone in a spew of lava, destroying it immediately.

In the video, the drone continues to operate up until the last second before lava splashed up and engulfed it, capturing its own final moments on camera.

Robo-Icarus

In the video description, Helms writes that first-person view drones like the one he used are notorious for crashing, so he was willing to assume the risk as he flew in for as close of a look at the lava river and the ongoing eruption as possible.

The flight certainly seemed to have paid off, at least from the outside, as the video gives an extraordinary view of the volcano as the drone seemingly plunges toward the lava.

READ MORE: Watch: Drone crashes into erupting Icelandic volcano [BBC]

More on volcanoes:Watching This Volcano Erupt From Space Is Absolutely Epic

Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.