Degassing lake Nyos and lake Monoun, Cameroon, gas disaster, reduction of a natural hazard, carbon dioxide explosion ...

Some 1, 700 people living in the valley below Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon mysteriously died on the evening of August 26, 1986. Word of the disaster spread, and scientists arrived from around the world. What they discovered was that the crater lake, perched inside a dormant volcano, had become laden with carbon dioxide gas. This gas had suddenly bubbled out of the lake and asphyxiated ...