Lake Nyos Disaster: 37 Years Later

Lake Nyos disaster killed over 1700 people and 3500 livestock

Today marks the 37th anniversary of the Lake Nyos disaster, which took place in the Menchum Division of Cameroon on August 21, 1986. The disaster killed 1,746 people and over 3,500 livestock, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in Cameroon’s history.

Lake Nyos is a crater lake located in the Oku Volcanic Field. The lake is known for its high concentration of carbon dioxide, which is dissolved in the water. On the day of the disaster, a large amount of carbon dioxide was released from the lake, suffocating the people and animals in the surrounding area.

Eyewitness Account

Late in August 1986, a traveller pedalled from the outlying Cameroonian village of Wum to the nearby community of Nyos. That day, he found an antelope on the dirt track that had recently died, and he strapped it to his bike.

As he looked around, he saw dead animals everywhere. He moved on, having concluded that a lightning strike was likely responsible for their deaths. When he reached a small town, he decided to make a phone call and see if anyone there knew anything about the incident. He went into the first home and discovered that everybody in it had been murdered. In every house he visited, he discovered the same tragic scene. Panicking, he threw his bike to the ground and sprinted back to Wum as fast as he could.

When he finally made it to Wum to tell his tale, he found that many people from Nyos and the surrounding villages had already arrived. Some reported hearing an explosion, while others reported a putrid odour. Some said they blacked out for more than a day, and when they came to, they found the bodies of their loved ones all around them.

Cause still unknown

Scientists still do not know the exact cause of the release of carbon dioxide, but they believe that an earthquake or volcanic activity may have triggered it. The disaster led to the development of new safety measures to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

The Lake Nyos disaster today would appear to pale in comparison to the ongoing Anglophone crisis, which has crippled the whole region and resulted in more deaths.

What are your souvenirs from this? Were you born yet? Do you have relatives who were victims?

Washira Helene