I was farming torment 16 rifts and suddenly my game crashed. When I logged in again my seasonal hardcore character was dead. My game hasn’t crashed once over all these years and I’d struggle to kill my character in T16 rifts but somehow game crashing does it for me automatically.
The server has to notice that it’s no longer getting input from the client (due to the client crash) and, once that’s been noticed, if you’re anywhere other than stood in town, it initiates a ten second countdown to logging your hero out. Essentially, the time for server-client “noticing” and the countdown, you’re effectively looking at a hero having to survive being bashed on by mobs for 20-30 seconds without being able to take any offensive actions. That’s why, on almost every occasion like this, when you do log back in, your hero’s dead.
This is why they give you a warning before letting you make a HC hero.
Sorry for your loss. Try again.