On 21 August 1986, more than 1,700 people died overnight in a small village in Africa. For this sudden disaster, it shocked the world.
The dead had no struggle, no scars, and looked like they were asleep. For such a difficult case, experts also immediately launched an investigation.
However, they were busy for a long time without seeing any trace of the "murderer", until they saw a "landslide". This completely exposed the traces of the murderer, and it turned out that the initiator of everything turned out to be Lake Nyos, known as "Xanadu". So the expert hired workers to drain the lake, and only then did he see the murderer as he was.
So why did the lake become a "murderer" and how did it take people's lives?
Magical Lake Nios
Lake Nyos is located in the Republic of Cameroon in West Africa. Cameroon is a country rich in wealth and resources. Moreover, the national culture is diverse, with more than 200 ethnic groups and languages, and is internationally known as "Little Africa". The country has a tropical rainforest and savannah climate, which is hot and rainy all year round, which has caused natural disasters in Cameroon from time to time.
Lake Nyos is Cameroon's most well-known lake, located on the slopes on the left side of the Pameta plateau. Almost all people who come here to check in. It is a volcanic lake that is buried deep in the bottom of the lake and stretches beyond the lake. The lake looks very clear and has given birth to a lot of life, and green and green dot the surroundings. And around the lake, there are many birds and animals, all of which depend on Lake Nyos for their lives.
The average depth of Lake Nyos is 200 meters, the bottom of the lake is the exit of the extinct volcano, although it is in a volcanic area, but Lake Nyos has never been turbulent, after all, the volcano will not erupt, the lake is naturally quiet.
Cameroon is summer all year round, and the country is rainy, and Lake Nyos is often full of water after rain. After a heavy rain, white smoke fills the surface of the lake, and the crisp sound of birds calls makes this place a wonderland on earth. Because of the breeding of the lake, there are sparse villages around, and after a few years of development, the population has reached about 2,000 people.
These people survive on natural resources and grazing. Thanks to rain irrigation, the meadows here are fertile and grow fast, which greatly meets the needs of shepherds. Moreover, the place is remote, the transportation is not convenient, and the competitive pressure is much smaller. As a result, generations of people have lived poorly, but happily.
In Africa, August was very rainy compared to other months. Africa begins the rainy season in July and lasts until about September. During this time, mountain landslides, volcanic eruptions, and lake swelling will follow. The people who live here have long been accustomed to it, they have coping measures and they are not too alarmed by natural disasters.
However, in August 1986, an anomaly appeared near Lake Nios. At first, the shepherds would always see the carcasses of animals lying by the lake. At first, shepherds thought the animals had been "poisoned," but after inspection, there were no scars on their bodies. Although the shepherds were puzzled but did not care, every day after that, they could see similar scenes, and in addition to poultry, some rare birds also died by the lake.
At this time, it aroused everyone's curiosity, but the real reason was not found, there is no high technology in this small mountain village. For the exploration of the natural world, the villagers can do nothing. Things were stranded until August 21, when there was a reversal.
The weather was gloomy, and it looked like a rainstorm was about to strike, and the villagers quickly packed up their things and rushed home. Living in these decades, although we have long been accustomed to such days, today's situation is particularly special. At night, sure enough, a downpour fell from the sky, and in an instant, lightning and thunder, everyone could only close the door and rest in peace.
Listening to the sound of rain, it seemed so quiet, and soon everyone entered the dream.
In the middle of the night, the already sleeping people heard a huge explosion that alarmed everyone, and no one knew what was happening. The sound sounded deafening and woke up the entire village. The sound faded. The villagers boldly opened the door, but now they smelled a pungent smell, an indescribable breath, they only felt that they could not breathe a breath, and with the more gas they inhaled, people's bodies began to tremble continuously.
Some people had collapsed on the ground weakly, panting, unable to even stretch their limbs, and the surrounding area was already black. At this time, there was no bright light in front of the bottom of the personnel, and he fainted directly. I don't know how long it took, but it was dawn. A villager woke up from his sleep and then covered his nose, the smell made him want to vomit, but somehow he couldn't get out of bed, and in a daze he heard a rapid knock on the door.
The villagers fell from their beds to the floor with all their strength and crawled towards the door. Then the door was opened for his friends, who helped him up and sat still for a while, and the villagers suddenly remembered their daughter. So I ran to the side to see, but I didn't expect that my daughter was dead. Grief-stricken, he was overwhelmed, and then found that all but a few of them had died.
He didn't understand why there had been such a big change overnight, and after adjusting his breathing, the villagers ran out to see the sheep at home.
But he didn't expect that none of his sheep were spared and all died, unwilling he trotted all the way, but the scene ahead was even more terrifying, on the road, by the lake, in mountain streams, flocks of birds and beasts lying below, the closer to Lake Nyos, the more corpses, it looked quite bad. That's when he realized that something was wrong, and there must be an unknown truth in it.
After the incident, it was rumored that more than 1,700 people died in one village overnight, with no signs of fighting on their bodies and no signs of aggression. A serene look appeared on everyone's faces. The appalling news finally reached the ears of the Cameroonian government, and everyone was shocked.
Who is so bold and dares to "kill" in peacetime, and who drops "weapons"? Because everyone thinks that the explosion at night sounds more like the sound of a "weapon explosion". The government immediately sent a team of experts to villages near Lake Nyos to investigate, and Cameroonian media exposed the incident.
This attracted the attention of many international scholars, who were very interested to go forward to investigate, and with the permission of the Cameroonian government, international experts and domestic experts joined forces to explore the villages.
Investigate the truth
There are few survivors of such a bizarre event near Lake Nyos. Suddenly, "murderous maniac" became synonymous with the entire village. Professors from the University of Michigan in the United States conducted geological exploration of this, and then based on the feedback of the villagers.
They came to four conclusions, the first of which was that the explosion was a "bomb" and that perhaps the place had been hit by a "terrorist attack, which killed the villagers en masse." "The second is infectious diseases, and in the absence of preparedness, an unknown infectious disease kills everyone.
The third is collective food poisoning, not knowing what to eat or drink, leading to disaster. The last speculation is the advent of chemical and biological weapons, as "some kind of experiment" led to the mass deaths of villagers. Based on four scenarios, the experts began to investigate one by one.
First of all, the bomb said that the possibility was ruled out. There were no traces of the explosion left at the scene. After the ringing of the day, some villagers went out to see that there was no thick fog and smoke, and the dead bodies did not have any scars, and the surrounding houses and buildings showed no signs of damage, which showed that the loud noise was definitely not made by weapons.
As for the infectious disease, from the moment the experts entered the village, they did not notice that something was wrong, and the accompanying animal hospital and human medical experts were top-notch, and they found no abnormalities in the test. Moreover, no carriers, which were found during the examination of the body, indicate that the claim of infectious diseases is not valid.
If the infectious disease is not established, then food poisoning is even more impossible, and the corpses are all dissected and tested, and no toxic substances are extracted from the stomach. The hometown who lost his life also checked the food without any problems, not to mention if it was really food poisoning, would 1,700 people eat a poisonous substance at the same time? This is very unlikely.
Only the last "biological weapon" When it comes to biological weapons, bacterial hazards must be on the list, but no symptomatic animals and humans have been found near the village, which is not in line with the phenomenon of bacterial harm. In addition to bacteria are poisonous gas, when testing the nearby air, experts have made new discoveries.
There is no toxic gas nearby, but the amount of carbon dioxide in the air is seriously exceeded, which has attracted the attention of experts. From the moment they entered the village, there was a pungent question, and there was always a stinky smell after inhaling it, which made people feel a little suffocating, and the closer they got to Lake Nyos, the stronger the smell became.
When everyone came to the lake, Lake Nyos seemed to have changed, and the normal lake water should be blue and turquoise. The appearance of Lake Nios surprised them, and the bright red color seemed to be infected by something. It seems that there are many secrets hidden under this lake. So after everyone discussed, they sent special personnel to dive into the bottom of the lake to find out.
Unexpectedly, the gas 200 meters below the lake contains up to 99.4% carbon dioxide, as well as argon and other elements. This suggests that the timing of this eruption is related to the carbon dioxide reserves under the lake.
But no one can figure out how this carbon dioxide is released? The whole surface of the lake seems quite calm, and the crater under the lake has been determined to have not erupted at all, why did carbon dioxide explode overnight?
In order to discover this secret, the experts decided to drain the water in Lake Nyos to find out.
Truth
Experts first extracted part of the water on the surface of the lake for testing, and concluded that the carbon dioxide contained in the water was exactly the same as the content inside the lake, which means that the carbon dioxide penetrated into the lake surface by underground gas. Experts have also found that there is a lot of volcanic gas around Lake Nyos.
This is not normal, after all, the volcano did not erupt, what exactly caused this phenomenon. Why the amount of carbon dioxide is so high and it still accumulates in the lake is definitely an abnormal performance. Summer and winter are two extremes, summer because of the hot weather caused by the gas squeeze in the lake, but in the winter due to the cold weather, the carbon dioxide in the lake has a flow of emissions, achieving a cycle, will not cause a big problem.
But Lake Nyos is too special, Cameroon is in the equatorial region, rain washed all year round, not to mention they do not have winter, can not experience the cold breath, which makes the lake more and more gas, can not circulate, then the internal air pressure will inevitably increase.
But even so, then, in order to make the gas ejection, there must always be a "carrier" such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other phenomena, which can make the gas overflow under shaking. Why did Lake Nyos erupt suddenly, and what was the reason for its shaking? With this question in mind, experts re-investigated the nearby geological features.
Finally, I discovered the secret while climbing the Pameta plateau. It turned out that a few days before the explosion of the lake, a landslide was caused by heavy rainfall. The perennial rain makes the village fertile and soft, and the first rain will form potholes. The soil on the mountain will roll down with heavy rain, causing landslides.
In this way, if it causes a loud noise, the entire surface of the lake will be shaken, and the already accumulated gas will gush out with the mud and rocks falling into the water with a sound. After getting the answer, the local government sent professionals to drain the lake water in order to avoid the disaster, and safely released all the gas inside.
However, if you want to discharge gas without harming everyone, one operation cannot be satisfied, and you must install exhaust pipes in the lake. The Government of Cameroon attached considerable importance to this project and, in an attitude of responsibility to the people, culminated in the successful installation of the exhaust system in January 2001 after several years of research and practice.
Every time a rainstorm hits, the exhaust system at the bottom will automatically pump away carbon dioxide gas to reduce the occurrence of hazards. In 2011, the Cameroonian government ordered the addition of two more pipelines for venting gases, which solved the hazards of the accident.
Nothing like this has happened at Lake Nyos until now. The number of villagers living in the surrounding area has gradually increased, and people still live a happy and simple life, herding horses and sheep.
Perhaps under the power of nature, we cannot stop it, but we can defend it in real time. However, after this battle, the beautiful Lake Nyos was named the "world's three major killing lakes". Those tourists who used to come and go gradually decreased, after all, no one knows which accident will arrive first tomorrow.