Are you aware that simply going to a lake can result in death?
You might think it's because you drowned, got bitten by a hungry animal, or swallowed
something deadly, but this isn't the case.
What's shocking is that the cause of your death might be the air you breathe.
You will die even before you realize it.
The air might kill you in a couple of seconds the moment you inhale it.
You'll die in silence but with so much pain.
If you were in the wrong lake at the wrong time, this could happen.
Are you beginning to wonder what this lake is?
Today, I'm going to tell you about the lake that is considered one of the world's most
dangerous destinations.
Here, you'll discover how a simple lake can wipe out entire villages and what dangers
anyone had to face when they come close to it.
Are you now ready?
Then, let’s get this started!
The lake that I’m talking about is Lake Nyos.
Even though the temperature is high, the water in this vast lake is cool.
It appears to be serene as if nothing bad could happen.
However, the color of the quiet lake can change at any time.
What's more alarming is that the water may retreat from the coast, as it does when a
tsunami is approaching.
The water will turn practically red after that.
The lake will then erupt as if it is a massive bubble.
Because of that, the sound of a huge crash will follow.
When you're in this lake and something like this happens, you will lose consciousness
and then die instantly before you even understand what’s happening.
You won't notice all of these unusual scenarios if you happened to be a little further away
from the lake.
You’ll only be able to hear the explosion, as well as may smell gun powder or rotting
eggs.
And, because you inhaled the air, you'll get a severe case of vertigo, causing you to sit
up.
However, this will be followed by an excruciating headache that will make walking difficult.
Your mind will not function properly, and you will become confused.
You will be unable to breathe normally.
You'll probably hear yourself breathing heavily, coughing will suffocate you, and the burning
pain in your eyes and nose will make you cry.
However, you'll be so weak that even if you want to wipe your tears would be impossible.
It would really be difficult for you.
You won't be able to manage your movements, thus controlling your hands would not be possible.
And soon, you’ll lose consciousness, fall into a coma, and die.
But what really is happening in Lake Nyos?
The calamity is called the Limnic eruption, an extremely unusual natural calamity on Earth.
Limnic eruption happens when carbon dioxide comes out from an open reservoir.
This unusual natural calamity had been documented only twice in recent history.
The first eruption was on Lake Monoun in Cameroon in 1984.
In the case of Lake Monoun, a cloud of carbon dioxide leaked from the reservoir around 10:30
p.m., which extended and filled the valley near the road.
People from the surrounding village went out to their houses early in the morning and walked
on the same road where there is a cloud of carbon dioxide.
The moment they walked into it, they died instantly.
This incident led to the death of thirty-seven people.
The second eruption occurred two years later, on August 21, 1986, on Lake Nyos.
Despite the similarity with the first eruption, it’s still even more deadly.
There were three thousand and five hundred cattle and one thousand and seven hundred
forty-six people were killed in this incident.
No one has ever anticipated this kind of catastrophe for humankind.
What could be the reason behind the disastrous gas release?
Well, even experts do not know what the exact answer is.
Most scientists, including those from Cameroon, can only assume a landslide would have caused
the release of carbon dioxide to the surface.
However, another explanation arises.
According to the report, the calamity may be triggered by a tiny volcanic eruption at
the lake's bottom.
However, if this theory is correct, the trigger may have been a simple rain or a particularly
strong wind, but clearly, that isn’t what happened.
It's difficult to say what exactly caused the tragic event.
This phenomenon can be compared to how a bottle of soda reacts when shaken.
Let's pretend that the bottle is submerged at a depth of more than two hundred meters
or seven hundred feet in this analogy.
Assume the liquid inside the bottle is five times the carbonation of a standard soda.
There would undoubtedly be a burst of gases when it exploded.
The lake changed its hue as a result of the gas release and the oxidation of iron in the
water.
It turns crimson.
Furthermore, a roughly 100-meter or 300-foot column of water and foam will be produced
on the surface, triggering a massive wave of around 25 meters or 82 feet tall.
This wave will then crash against the shore, making everything in its way shattered.
This event would have carbon dioxide emissions of about 100 to 300 thousand tons.
However, according to other accounts, more than 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide were
released in just 20 seconds.
The cloud of carbon dioxide would envelop the whole place and then would move down the
valleys at a pace of more than a hundred kilometers or more than sixty miles per hour.
This is due to the density of carbon dioxide being one and a half times that of air.
People on the street who come into contact with carbon dioxide clouds lose consciousness
and become paralyzed in a matter of seconds.
People in the affected areas may faint and die in an instant after taking a few breaths
of the poisonous air.
Those who are sleeping when this catastrophe occurs are unlikely to survive, as they are
likely to suffocate while sleeping.
People who are awake and interested in the source of the unusual smell and decide to
leave their homes will also suffer a big tragedy.
The smell of sulfur is frequently associated with carbon dioxide toxicity.
However, as soon as someone opened the door and looks for this smell outside, they are
likely to die on the spot.
Many times, the family member who rushed to see what had happened died as well.
All except four residents of Nyos and Kam, the first villages to be attacked by the gas,
were killed at the same time even if they were on high ground.
People and livestock within 25 kilometers or 15 miles of the lake have died out of suffocation.
Some sources even say that carbon dioxide poisoned birds and insects.
This event is a horrifying image of genocide - a way of nature expressing its wrath.
However, the question is: Could something similar happen again?
Well, experts claim that there is a chance.
What’s worst is that you won't be able to save yourself from the suffocating gas by
hiding, climbing high, or running, because it will spread really fast.
Lake Nyos is now being monitored by scientists.
Since there are still people living in the area who could be exposed to a new carbon
dioxide explosion, certain people thought of technics to avoid the calamity.
This includes the scientist Michel Halbwachs who proposed the installation of Degassing
columns in 1995, which employ a pump to lift carbon dioxide-saturated water.
Degassing, on the other hand, does not eliminate all of the issues.
One of these issues is that Degassing couldn’t prevent the natural wall of volcanic rock
from breaking.
According to geologist Isaac Njilah of the University of Yaounde, the geological wall
of volcanic rock that keeps the waters of the lake from spilling has the possibility
of collapsing in the near future.
If this happens, up to a million cubic meters of water, or two billion cubic feet, could
flow out, drowning Nigeria's Taraba and Benue states.
Njilah added that this could occur during the next ten to twenty years.
So, what happens if the barrier that keeps the water in breaks?
The lake will drop at least forty meters or 131 feet.
This will significantly reduce the pressure on the gas in deep water, making the waters
escape once more.
Two natural disasters could happen at the same time.
Flooding and the release of toxic gas might occur simultaneously, putting people in danger.
The worst part is that there are other lakes like this, other than the ones I’ve mentioned
earlier.
What’s even more shocking is that Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos aren't the only deadly lakes
in Africa.
Following the disaster in Lake Nyos, which killed over two thousand people, experts began
looking into other reservoirs.
They wanted to determine whether there are other lakes where something similar could
occur, as well as whether they could avoid it.
Lake Kivu was discovered to be hazardous as a result of the research.
This lake could be found between Rwanda and the Republic of the Congo.
With an area of around two thousand and seven hundred square kilometers or one thousand
and four hundred square miles, Kivu is considered Africa's eighth largest lake.
However, this massive lake is another deadly lake.
Geologists have discovered that there are signs of widespread extinction around Kivu,
happening every thousand years or so.
And gas emissions are likely to blame for the death of all living organisms in this
place.
It’s worthy to note that Lake Kivu is two thousand times larger than Nyos, and it has
sixty-five cubic kilometers or fifteen and half cubic miles of methane and two hundred
and fifty-six cubic kilometers or sixty-five cubic miles of carbon dioxide in its water.
Scientists are unsure when Lake Kivu last exploded, or whether another calamity could
erupt very soon.
However, if it will erupt, the impact of the release of gases could be greater than the
combined disasters of Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos.
According to scientists, the eruption could kill around two million people living near
Kivu could die in an instant.
After all this information, I'm not scaring you and claiming that whenever you're near
these lakes, you're on the verge of dying.
I'm not the person to say that.
I'm just a science enthusiast.
In any case, I'd rather rest in a different body of water.
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