What Happened At Lake Nyos: The "Deadliest Lake On The Planet" (2024)

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What Happened At Lake Nyos: The "Deadliest Lake On The Planet" (2)PUBLISHED

There were no flies on the 1,746 dead, because the flies were dead as well.

What Happened At Lake Nyos: The "Deadliest Lake On The Planet" (3)

James Felton

What Happened At Lake Nyos: The "Deadliest Lake On The Planet" (4)
James Felton

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James is a published author with four pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.

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What Happened At Lake Nyos: The "Deadliest Lake On The Planet" (5)

On August 21, 1986, a strange rumbling noise was heard at Lake Nyos in Northwest Cameroon. The following morning, 1,746 people and over 3,500 livestock within 25 kilometers (16 miles) of the lake were found dead.

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Ephriam Che, a farmer who lived in a nearby mud-brick house on a cliff, heard the rumbling at around 9 pm. Thinking nothing of it, he went to bed shortly afterward. When he awoke the following day, he headed down to a waterfall and found it strangely dry. Weirder still, the whole place was eerily quiet, with no sounds from birds or animals or even insects to be heard. Terrified, he continued downhill towards the village by the lake, when he heard shrieking.

Halima Suley, a cowherd who lived in the village, was standing there, desperately calling for Che's attention. Around her were the dead bodies of 31 members of her family, and 400 dead cattle.

"There were no flies on the dead," Che told Smithsonian Magazine, because the flies were dead as well.

Others had similar stories. "I was sitting, just sitting among the dead people inside the house, some of them were outside, some of them behind the houses and it was animals everywhere lying, cows, dogs, cows, everything, so I was confused by then," Monica Lom Ngong told the BBC. "All the family, we were 56, but 53 died."

There was no sign of any struggle here or in the village below, where hundreds of others lay dead – roughly where they would have been at around 9 pm when that ominous sound had occurred. The only other clues were the smell of rotten eggs, and strange marks on the bodies of the dead and the living.

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"When I wake up I had burns on my left arm," Monica said. "By then I was feeling no pains. The arm was giving in a way that it was nearly having rotten because of the wounds."

It wasn't clear to anybody what had happened, with people putting it down to chemical attacks as well as more superstitious explanations. Those who had survived – mostly people who quickly sought higher ground away from the lake – described family members napping on the floor dying where they lay, while they were spared, as well as a cloud of gas rolling out from the lake at astonishing speed. Some of the people turned out to be merely unconscious and woke the following day to see the scenes of carnage around them.

Scientists descended upon Nyos to investigate in the coming weeks, finding bodies strewn everywhere, and a lake that had turned from blue to red. Of those who had survived, many were suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, and hallucinations, all of which were symptoms of CO2 poisoning.

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Samples from the lake confirmed the cause of the incident. Lake Nyos was formed in a volcanic crater, which was producing CO2. Usually, in volcanic lakes, the gas would be released as the water is disturbed and sloshes around. Lake Nyos, however, was unusually still – and as a result, there had been a buildup of CO2 in the sediment for decades, unknown to anyone nearby.

It's not known what exactly disturbed the lake that day – whether it was a landslide or just sudden release of the gas – but when it went off, about 1.2 cubic kilometers (0.29 cubic miles) of CO2 was released in about 20 seconds, spilling over and asphyxiating anyone in its path. The gas is denser than the surrounding air, so it spared those who were standing up or happened to be on higher ground, while anyone sleeping on the floor would never wake up again.

It's not the only lake to have this problem. Lake Kivu, between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, is much, much bigger than Nyos and surrounded by a far denser population. Studies have shown extinction events in the lake take place every thousand years or so, so it's likely not a matter of if another extinction event will happen, but when.

An earlier version of this article was published inApril 2021.

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What Happened At Lake Nyos: The "Deadliest Lake On The Planet" (2024)

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What Happened At Lake Nyos: The "Deadliest Lake On The Planet"? ›

It's not known what exactly disturbed the lake that day – whether it was a landslide or just sudden release of the gas – but when it went off, about 1.2 cubic kilometers (0.29 cubic miles) of CO2 was released in about 20 seconds, spilling over and asphyxiating anyone in its path.

Why is Lake Nyos the deadliest lake in the world? ›

On August 21, 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon released a large cloud of CO2, suffocating over 1,700 people and countless animals by displacing the oxygen around them. Scientists determined that CO2 had been gradually leaking into the lake, eventually erupting in a deadly release triggered by a rockslide.

What caused the tragedy at Lake Nyos? ›

Carbon dioxide was blamed for the deaths of around 1700 people in Cameroon, west Africa, in 1986 when a massive release of gas occurred from Lake Nyos, a volcanic crater lake.

Did anyone survive the Lake Nyos disaster? ›

Following the eruption, many survivors were treated at the main hospital in Yaoundé, the country's capital. It was believed that many of the victims had been poisoned by sulphur-based gases.

Why did Lake Nyos turn red? ›

The normally blue waters of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air. The level of the lake dropped by about a metre and trees near the lake were knocked down.

What caused the rust color of Lake Nyos? ›

Before the 'eruption', Lake Nyos was beautiful and blue. After the 'eruption' with the lake water being saturated with carbon dioxide, Lake Nyos was a murky brown color.

What is the science behind Lake Nyos? ›

The August 1986 gas bursts from Lake Nyos were most likely caused by rapid exsolution of dissolved CO2 within the lake; an explosive process such as a phreatic eruption or a CO2 gas-jetting from beneath the bottom is unlikely because of low concentrations of Cl and SO42, no oxygen isotopic shift, low turbidity, and ...

What are some interesting facts about Lake Nyos? ›

Some scientists view Lake Nyos as a modern exemplar of an ancient process, positing that massive eruptions of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane and the resultant lowering of oxygen levels triggered the mass extinction of animals such as the trilobites and terrestrial plants during the late Permian period, about ...

Is there a volcano under Lake Nyos? ›

The disaster killed between 1,700 and 1,800 people. On August 21, 1986, a cloud of magmatic carbon dioxide gas arose from the bed of Lake Nyos, a freshwater lake located in a volcanic caldera in the populous Northwest Region of the East African nation of Cameroon.

Do people still live in Nyos? ›

Thirty years after the incident, the population is still estimated at several thousand, but they live far from the killer lake, even though some are ignoring warnings from the government and returning closer to the lake.

Can you go to Lake Nyos? ›

Reaching Lake Nyos requires a bit of effort, but the journey is well worth it. The nearest major airport is the Douala International Airport, located in Cameroon's largest city. From there, you can hire a private car or take a bus to the town of Nkambe, which serves as a gateway to Lake Nyos.

What are the gas laws in Lake Nyos? ›

The Gas Laws that apply to this event are Avagodros Law and Boyles Law. As the pressure in the lake increased, the volume of the gas increased and was pushed out of the water causing the eruption. This then formed a gas cloud which drifted into they valley below.

Are there fish in Lake Nyos? ›

The available evidence, some of which is outlined above, leads me to conclude that breeding populations of fish must surely have been introduced into Lake Nyos on a number of occasions.

Is CO2 based on a true story? ›

events based on ! CO2 movie loosely based on the Nyos gas leak . The eventual number of people who died in the Lake Nyos gas leak was put at more than 1,700. Scientists debated the cause of the disaster for some time afterwards.

What is the most poisonous lake in the world? ›

Lake Nyos – Cameroon

The waters of Lake Nyos turn a murky brown because it shoots out toxic gases. In 1986, the lake emitted enough lethal gas to suffocate thousands of people and livestock. Experts discovered that carbon dioxide gases had built at the bottom of the lake for centuries.

Which US lake has the most deaths? ›

Dangerous lakes in the US: Many deaths occurred from drownings
  • Lake Michigan, 41.
  • Lake Erie, 17.
  • Lake Ontario, 17.
  • Lake Superior, 6.
  • Lake Huron, 4.
Jul 1, 2024

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