The 'exploding lake' that mysteriously killed 1700 people in one blow; what exactly happened beneath the once quiet water body?
One such little-known event took place in Cameroon, West Africa, in the 1980s, where two lakes turned into deadly traps. Seemingly calm and beautiful lakes Nyos and Monoun hid a powerful secret deep beneath their surfaces, which only hit as a nightmare of adversity.
What happened at Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun is a dreadful reminder of how something that appears calm and still can erupt with devastating consequences. Unlike volcanoes that roar or storms that thunder, these lakes released a colorless, odourless cloud of gas that silently killed more than 1,700 people in a matter of minutes.
What happened when the tragedy struck
On the night of August 21, 1986, villagers near Lake Nyos in Cameroon heard a strange rumble, which was followed by a frothy explosion from the lake, sending a white cloud hundreds of feet into the air. The cloud, made of carbon dioxide (CO₂), spilled over the lake's edge and crept silently across the land. It was thick and heavy, hugging the ground and filling valleys, suffocating people and animals in its path.
The cloud was gas was deadly and toxic
As the deadly cloud moved, entire villages like Nyos and Kam were devastated.
In some places, only those living on high ground survived. Survivors later woke up to a horrifying scene as their families, neighbours, and livestock had perished. More than 1,700 people died, along with thousands of cattle, according to the US Geological Survey.
Scientists soon discovered that CO₂ was the killer. Since it's heavier than air, it sank and replaced the oxygen people needed to breathe. 'When the CO2 concentration was 15 percent or less, people lost consciousness and later revived,' explains geochemist William Evans to the US Geological Survey.
'Individuals who inhaled more than 15 percent CO2 stopped breathing in minutes and died.'
But how did so much gas end up in the lake
After investigating, scientists concluded that the CO₂ had been leaking from underground magma into the lake over time, becoming trapped under pressure beneath 682 feet of water. Then, possibly a landslide, triggered its sudden release in a massive, deadly "burp."
This wasn't the first such event
On August 15, 1984, a similar disaster struck Lake Monoun, about 100 km away.
There, too, CO₂ had exploded from the lake at night, killing 37 people. Locals believed it was either chemical poisoning or an evil spirit. But according to Evans, 'Probably these legends came about because of gas bursts in the past.'
After the Nyos tragedy, scientists installed CO₂ sensors and sirens around the lake, and efforts were made to slowly vent gas from its depths to prevent another disaster. Today, lakes like Nyos are carefully monitored, and others such as Lake Kivu in the Congo are now under watch as well.
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