On This Day: August 21, 1986 — A Lake in Cameroon Exhaled and 1,746 People Died in Their Sleep
Quick Answer: On August 21, 1986, Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon experienced a limnic eruption — a sudden, catastrophic release of dissolved carbon dioxide from its depths. The invisible gas cloud traveled 25 kilometers downhill and suffocated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock across four villages while they slept. It remains the deadliest limnic eruption ever…
