As Aiko Sato placed flowers at her family’s headstone last week, she thought it could be the last time she would see it. Slow-moving lava was inching closer to the Japanese Cemetery in Pahoa, Hawaii, and officials had allowed her the opportunity to visit. But after lava flowed over the cemetery, Sato’s aunt was given a photograph taken by a geologist documenting the lava’s advance, showing the Sato headstone still standing in a sea of black lava.
Photo credit: US Geological Survey via AP