The Report That Named the Killer

Name: The Report That Named the Killer
Genre: Documentary

An official scientific team assembles the water, gas, medical, and geological evidence into a mechanism for the disaster.

This episode needs All Access, from $4.99 a week.

Transcript

The release of large amounts of carbon dioxide accumulated in Lake Nyos; about 1,700 people died.
On August 21st, 1986, a disaster struck Lake Nyos in Cameroon.
A U.S. scientific team wrote the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance's final report.
A limnic eruption releases a cloud of carbon dioxide from water.
The gas escaped when deep water rose, releasing its dissolved carbon dioxide.
The Lake Nyos event is described as a limnic eruption.
It killed about 1,700 people and 3,500 domestic animals.
Clinical findings from 845 survivors matched exposure to an asphyxiant gas.
Rescuers saw skin redness and blisters; investigators first thought acidic gases caused burns.
Further investigation linked those lesions to coma states caused by carbon dioxide in air.
The medical study still did not exclude other toxic factors in the release.
Silence settles over the room as the survivor looks toward the window.
The 1987 final report became USGS Open-File Report 87-97.
Its listed authors included M. L. Tuttle and William C. Evans.
The lake's age was estimated at 400 to more than 350,000 years.

The official report could explain the gas—but the rocks still hid the age and origin of the lake that stored it.

All Access is $4.99 a week, $14.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The annual plan starts with three days free.

Renews until you cancel. Terms · Privacy