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Silent killer

Professor Iain Stewart recounts the story of hundreds of mysterious deaths that occurred on 21 August 1986 in villages near Lake Nyos, Cameroon. Lake Nyos sits in the crater of an inactive volcano. It was later found that a landslide disturbed volcanic gas - carbon dioxide - that had dissolved in water at the bottom of the lake and sent it down the slopes of the volcano. Approximately 1,700 people in nearby villages were asphyxiated in and around their homes. The event at Lake Nyos is a rare type of natural disaster called a limnic eruption or lake overturn.

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4 minutes

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