"Even the waterfall boiled"; British newspaper article about aftermath of Lake Nyos disaster

SO POWERFUL was the mixture of toxic gases that erupted from Cameroon's volcanic Lake Nyos that the corpses of both man and beast attracted no flies for a week. Scientists interviewing survivors here presume this was because all the insects had died. Only the ants, safe in their underground nests, emerged to feast on cadavers swollen by the gases to as much as three times their normal size and weight. United Nations officials now think at least 1,700 people died when a cloud containing separate emissions of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide drifted on to remote rural communities 1 1 days ago at the height of the country's rainy season. Yesterday was declared an official day of mourning in Cameroon for the victims of the Lake Nyos disaster. According to Professor Franco Bar-beri, an expert on volcanoes from the University of Pisa, who is studying the disaster : ' There is no longer any doubt that it was carbon dioxide which killed the people.' There was also hydrogen sulphide in the gas, which accounted for a smell described either as being like gunpowder or rotten eggs. But the victims died from lack of oxygen caused by too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Scientists say the people were asphyxiated and died painlessly and quickly. Eyewitnesses who Sew over the lake The orphans of Lake Nyos : three of the Even the LINDSEY HILSUM reports from Wum in Cameroon on the gruesome discoveries still being made by relief workers at the scene of the Lake Nyos disaster. this weekend say that a waterfall at one end was boiling, and the lake itself was streaked black and red, With white powder on the surface. Lake Nyos is now mostly a clay red colour and is several feet higher than usual. Tests carried out on Thursday revealed that the ph balance of the water was normal, but it was 8C (46F) hotter than it should be. The scientists have not determined whether the huge bubble which released the gas had been trapped under the lake and was forced up by a volcanic eruption, or whether the gas was already in the water and the explosion was caused by an earth tremor. Nearly all those who died have been buried, but the weight of the swollen animal corpses has made the work of volunteers burying the thousands of cattle which perished extremely difficult. Scientists are interviewing survivors to try to determine exactly what happened. Some people say they heard an explosion, like a thunderclap, others report smelling a strange odour, but the majority remember little. ' I know I was breathing very hard and had no strength,' said Margaret Wandia, a survivor from the village of Subum, now being treated for burns in hospital at Wum the nearest town. children who survived the poison cloud recover In hospital at Wum. waterfall boiled ' Then I woke up, and three of my four daughters were dead in the bed beside me .' Mrs Wandia is badly shocked, and has burns on both legs and one arm. Severe burns and respiratory infections are the most common oroblems affecting survivors. Dr Bert Oubre, an American physician working at Mbingu Baptist Hospital, had to carry out major surgery on one victim. ' Her hand was burned right down to the bone, and I had to amputate it,' he said. There are about 500 survivors being treated at nearby clinics and hospitals. Water in the area is still contaminated, so fresh water has to be brought in by tanker, as well as medical supplies. The Cameroonian .Government has set up a committee to coordinate' all the .relief items and donations coming into the country. The gas seems to have been strangely selective in its effect. In the village of Nyos, which is downhill from the lake, there were only two survivors, but in the more distant villages of Subum, Cha and Fang it is common to find households where one or two family members have survived while the rest perished. In many instances, the gas killed adults but spared children, and there are more than 100 orphans in the hospital at Wum. . Prof Barbed says there are two possible explanations for this. Firstly, the children may not have woken and panicked at the sound of an explosion or when smelling a strange odour, so their breathing while asleep remained regular. Secondly, the bodies of many adults were found outside houses. As the gas did not seep into better sealed houses so quickly, some of the children left inside escaped. A similar disaster occurred almost two years ago at Moumon, a volcano about .140 miles north-east of Mount Cameroon. Thirty-seven people died, and their bodies were found covered in burns. The Cameroon Government has not yet decided whether it should evacuate the entire region. As many of the people are nomadic, it would be a very difficult and expensive measure to take. Already some of the people who fled the immediate area around Lake Nyos are trying to return. A staff reporter adds: After a relatively slow start aid has been pouring into Cameroon from the - United States and the EEC. Britain has so far contributed 15,000 in immediate aid from its embassy in Yaounde, phis an additional 250,000 of tents, camp beds, antibiotics and baby food which arrived yesterday on a Boeing 707 chartered by the Disaster Relief Unit of the Overseas Development Agency. Another aircraft laden with aid and carrying three British scientists , is expected to leave Gatwick on Tuesday. is to a to

The Observer

"Even the waterfall boiled"; British newspaper article about aftermath of Lake Nyos disaster

"Even the waterfall boiled"; British newspaper article about aftermath of Lake Nyos disaster

The Observer