One day, a Cameroonian civil servant was driving his motorcycle from the town of Wum to the village of Nyos. On the road, he saw a dead antelope and decided that he was lucky. Sharply braking, he picked up the animal and strapped it to the back seat. A heavy motorcycle soon brought him to a whole … antelope and cow cemetery. And then he saw the corpses of people.
It immediately became clear that some kind of tragedy was playing out here, although nothing around indicated the reasons for its occurrence. However, there was no time to think, because the employee felt that he was seized by a semi-faint state. Having got rid of an unnecessary and possibly dangerous antelope, he raced back to Wum. Overcoming his weakness, he told all the details of his trip, and then sent his report to the capital - the city of Yaounde. The name of this man remained unknown to the general public, but from him the whole world learned that an extraordinary catastrophe had happened.
That evening, as if nothing foreshadowed trouble for the inhabitants of the coastal villages. Having finished with the usual peasant concerns, the men rested in the fields after work, the women were busy with the household, the children played near the huts. Haze from the hearths drifted over the rooftops, and in the villages they were preparing for dinner.
… Many residents of the Cameroonian village of Nyos went to bed on August 21, 1986, as usual, and therefore did not hear the rumble in the distance. And yet he foreshadowed mortal danger. The last thing that many have heard in their lives is a powerful explosion. A mysterious, colorless cloud suddenly burst out from the depths of the deep-water lake Nyos and floated towards the village.
Less than a few minutes later, this poisonous cloud, having overcome the raised edge of the coast, began to creep over the surroundings, pressing itself to the ground and settling in the lowlands. A few minutes later, almost no one was left alive. Many suffocated, and did not finish their last dream. Those who were awake ran out of their huts, overturning tables, chairs, and kitchen utensils, trying to hide from the cloud carrying death. Others had to experience terrible torment from severe burns on the skin. Someone before death tried to rip off their clothes, some tore from the adobe huts into the air. But there was no salvation here either. In total, this still peaceful lake has killed 1800 people.
Chia David Wanbong, one of the few survivors, said later: “I felt like intoxication. People began to cough, some were simply turned inside out, blood was flowing from their throats. Moans and sobs were heard all around."
And here is the testimony of 36-year-old Francis Fang: “My wife fell out of bed on the floor, then she started vomiting blood. The children were badly burned by something, and they shouted. My wife died immediately, and I picked up the children and wandered off to the hospital. The dead were everywhere ….
The picture of the tragedy was as grisly as if a neutron bomb had exploded. Life had practically disappeared from the forests, houses, and fields, although the round adobe huts with pointed straw tops continued to stand as if nothing had happened. But the emerald foliage before was covered with a brown film, in some places the leaves turned black and shriveled, as if from the cold. The waters of the lake, which had caressed the eyes with a transparent depth just the day before, have now turned brown-brown with a kind of whitish tinge.
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So what happened in the blooming valley around the picturesque Lake Nyos? Why did some suddenly suddenly feel a strong smell of rotten eggs, while others thought they were pulling with gunpowder? Where did many people get terrible burns on their bodies?
In the city of Wum, many attributed the tragic events to the actions of an evil spirit living at the bottom of the lake. Indeed, the death was brought by the beautiful mountain lake Nios, which lies in the crater of the volcano.
Seismologists, volcanologists, geologists and physicians from all over the world immediately rushed to the site of the disaster. Many hypotheses have arisen as to what kind of gases exterminated the inhabitants of the coast of the “peaceful lake”. What caused the release of these gases? The first testimonies of the victims indicated that hydrogen sulfide escaped from the lake: they said that there was a characteristic smell of rotten eggs in the air. Hydrogen sulfide in high concentrations kills almost instantly, and there is still no agent capable of neutralizing its effect in this case.
But on the other hand, the gas cloud was clearly heavier than air: gases accumulated in the lowlands, and the villages located on the hills were not affected. Therefore, American doctors assumed that most people died from asphyxiation caused by both hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. The victims lost consciousness almost instantly, a few seconds after the disaster.
The same was noted by a French doctor who observed the first victims in the hospital. However, never before have these two factors influenced one person at the same time. “The impression is that the two types of gases were spreading separately from each other, and this is strange,” said the Frenchman. According to experts, all victims will suffer various ailments until the end of their lives - from memory loss to paralysis.
A representative of the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Cameroon suggested that landslides provoked the tragedy. Damaging the bottom sediments of the lake, they opened the way for the accumulated carbon dioxide.
One of the American magazines noted that Cameroon is located near the equator and the surface of the water is constantly heated by the sun. This prevents colder deep waters from rising to the surface. For many hundreds of years of the existence of lakes on their bottom can form monstrous in size "storeroom" of gas. Nyos' gas bubble may have been squeezed out by a giant landslide, as August is the rainiest month of the rainy season. Perhaps a volcano has awakened or an earthquake has occurred.
The most varied hypotheses were put forward, because even in extinct volcanoes, gas-forming activity continues for many hundreds, if not thousands of years. Gas accumulates for a long time, and at some point the muddy bottom of the lake does not withstand and breaks through. The tragedy was aggravated by a number of fatal circumstances: the absence of wind and the lowering of the terrain - the gas "flowed" from the volcano and strangled people.
In the area of Lake Nios, there are about two dozen more water-filled volcanic craters. Immediately after the tragedy, a 10-kilometer zone around the lake was surrounded by military units. Thirty thousand people were resettled from the dangerous territory. Residents were not allowed to return until all contaminated animal carcasses were removed.
Silence reigned in this once flourishing area … Children's toys and clothes were scattered on the floor in houses, bicycles were leaning against the walls, meat was still in the cast iron. There were crumpled beds.
But on the deserted streets for a long time it was impossible to meet men, mothers did not call out to the naughty children, chickens did not squeak, insects did not buzz … Many years have passed since then, but to this day the tribes of Africans living on the shores of Lake Nios are trying to to appease the spirits of water.
HUNDRED GREAT DISASTERS. N. A. Ionina, M. N. Kubeev