Unseen Horrors - Crater Lakes

August 1986 Lake Nyos - Cameroon

The village was intact, however unusually quiet. Nothing seemed to have changed at all, but there was a deathly silence, even the surrounding forest was silent, as if they were looking onwards to see what had happened. A defeaning crackle, that was a tree snapping like a twig, rolling down to rest at the foot of the mountain Cameroon sat on, a deathly white. However, this all paled to lake Nyos, its waters hissing lethaly, a bright orange colour. The murky mysterious lake had claimed 1700 victims in a single night. The forest around the crater lake Nyos was suffocated, draining trees of their colour and life and not even sparing the ground, weakened and crumbling and unable to support life any more.

A wave of sweeping gas had covered Cameroon the day before. The gas was virtually poison, wiping out almost every sign of life. There was no time to run or anywhere to hide. Cattle had died, seemingly sleeping on the ground on the way to the village, but their eyes were open, having been strangled by the gas. The village was a ghost town too, with the villagers dead in their everyday activities. A woman, holding her ladle in one of the thatched huts, was boiling a pot of soup. Also, many others, also suffocated, were doing things like reading and sleeping. The area was dead, and many had died horrifically, their eyes wide open, suffering burning sensations in their eyes, strangled by the gas.

The lake still sauturated with carbon dioxide, the area is still contaminated, going grey near the lake from the loss of vegetation. The disaster could strike again. Not on there, but in various crater lakes in Africa. Lake Nyos was a warning. It could happen, so we must always be prepared.