His Majesty Fon Kwanga Peter Yai II, Paramount Ruler of Bum, recalls painfully how he lost his brothers, sisters and uncles who were among 1,700 people that died when a toxic carbon dioxide cloud erupted from Lake Nyos in Cameroon’s North West Region on August 21, 1986.
The disaster left an unforgettable scar in his heart and continues to haunt its survivors, whom he says have been perpetually neglected by authorities.
A driver in Wum at the time, Fon Yai II rushed to Nyos upon hearing of the catastrophe and what he saw was silence and death.
“Along the way, I met corpses of men, women, children, and animals, scattered as though life itself had been swept away,” he recalls on August 21, 2025, which is 39 years later.
“With my own bare hands, I helped to bury some of them. This memory has never left me; it continues to haunt my soul,” he adds.
As one of the early responders, Fon Yai II witnessed a tragedy that drew international attention.
Research later confirmed that Lake Nyos had released a massive cloud of carbon dioxide that suffocated its victims in their sleep. Victims showed no signs struggle.
“…we awoke to a silence that was not ordinary. A silence where the birds no longer sang, a silence where the laughter of children was absent, a silence where even the breath of life had been stolen. We rose only to find that our loved ones were gone, taken without even the chance to say goodbye,” Fon Yai II recounts.
The disaster killed over 3,000 livestock, as well as birds, reptiles, and insects.
However, hundreds miraculously survived; many reported coughing up a black substance smelling of eggs or gunpowder.
Over 4,000 people were displaced from villages around the lake and resettled in makeshift camps at Buabua and Kimbi, which were provided by the Bum Palace. They left behind their homes and livelihoods.
Neglect of Lake Nyos Survivors
Thirty-nine years later, Fon Yai II laments the neglect of Lake Nyos disaster survivors, whose suffering has been compounded by nearly a decade of armed conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
“Relief materials came, though only after two to three years. But when the little aid ended, the resettlement camps were abandoned. Today, they lie in ruins, schools deserted, roads impassable, no drinking water, no network, no future,” the traditional ruler regrets.
“The ongoing crisis has worsened their misery, leaving camps in ashes and survivors in despair. This neglect is like salt poured into our deepest wounds. Even as time passes, the pain of the Lake Nyos disaster is renewed by the continued suffering of our people,” he adds.
He notes that whenever they remember the disaster, they “shed tears not only for those we lost, but also for the injustice that continues.”
Fon Yai II also decries the deliberate exclusion of the Kimbi and Su-Bum stretches from the Ring Road Project under the ongoing Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the North West and South West regions.
“This is another wound, another betrayal, another salt poured upon us,” he states.
He appeals to the government to honor the victims and survivors by ensuring justice, development, and dignity, particularly for those of Bum origin who have faced perpetual neglect.
After the Lake Nyos disaster, scientists went to work in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the unforgettable tragedy.
They drilled a network of pressure pipes into the lake to prevent another gas build up, a measure that has kept the Lake stable for the past close to four decades.
While this scientific ingenuity has effectively prevented a replay of Lake Nyos disaster, survivors have been left destitute.
