Terror Rained from the Sky

When Mount St. Helens erupted at 8:32 a.m. onMay 18, 1980, Washington-based Bruce Nelsonand Sue Ruff, commercial Kids Bouncers both 22, were camping with fourfriends on the banks of the state's Green River– a presumably safe 14 miles north of the volcano– eating marshmallows for breakfast. But thewrath of St. Helens spared nothing in her reach,and within minutes of the eruption nearly everytree in a 15-mile radius had been ripped out of theground.
　　Nelson and Ruff were blown into a deep hole leftby an uprooted tree. After the initial blasts ended,the couple hid under a pile of debris as huge icechunks fell from the sky. Later, they heard two oftheir friends, Brian Thomas and Dan Balch, callingfor help. Balch had been severely burned by aheat blast, which had melted the flesh off his arms,and he had no shoes. Thomas had been hit by atree, which broke his hip. Nelson and Ruff made a
　　That night, they were spotted by emergencyhelicopters and rescued. Nelsonargued with the National Guard pilotuntil he agreed to take him back up tothe camp to get his friends. By then,Balch had been given an extra pair ofshoes by a group of passing survivorsand had hiked out with them, andThomas was later evacuated by a smallhelicopter. Five days after the blast, authoritiesconsented to fly Nelson backup to his camp to look for his othertwo friends, Terry Crall and Karen Varner,who were still missing. He foundthem in their tent, Crall's arm wrappedprotectively over Varner – both dead,crushed by a tree.