The skeleton of a Roman man who was decapitated by a giant slab of rock has been discovered by archeologists in Pompeii.

They believe the man, aged in his thirties, was attempting to flee the eruption of Mt Vesuvius when the 300kg rock slammed into him, beheading him and killing him instantly.

He had struggled to escape the doomed city because he had an infection in his leg.

Archeologists found the rock sticking out of the ground at an angle, with the remains of the man protruding and intact from the chest down.

The rock, which they think may have been part of a stone doorway, was hurled into the air by the force of the eruption, which devastated Pompeii in AD79.