Remember: in order to get a limnic eruption, you need something to overturn the lake’s stratified layers, exposing the gas-rich deeper layers to the low-pressure environment above.

No warning, no fire, no explosion—just silence, then death. In 1986, Lake Nyos released a deadly cloud that wiped out entire villages in minutes.

The in-depth story of the Lake Nyos Limnic Eruption Disaster. It is an ordinary day for Doctor Emmanuel Ngu Mbi on August 22, 1986. The chief of the Subum village’s health center in North West ...

In 1986, Cameroon’s Lake Nyos was the scene of an extraordinary and devastating natural disaster. The lake quite literally exploded, releasing 80 million cubic meters of carbon dioxide in just ...

Whatever the cause, the result was catastrophic. The lake literally exploded in what's known as a limnic eruption, sending a fountain of water over 300 feet into the air and creating a small tsunami.

Of the three lakes, Nyos most recently suffered a limnic eruption in 1986 after a landslide – the consequences were tragic as 1,800 people in nearby villages died from asphyxiation.

In 1984 an eruption in Lake Monoun killed 37 people. In 1986 the release of up to one cubic kilometre of CO2 from nearby Lake Nyos asphyxiated over 1,700 people.

On August 21, 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos, Cameroon, released a massive cloud of carbon dioxide, suffocating over 1,700 people and countless animals. The gas, originating from the lake's ...

The death toll from the disaster of Lake Nyos, caused by a so-called "limnic" eruption, was so high that scientists and engineers were tasked with preventing it happening again. Three years later ...

A limnic eruption is a very rare natural event, disastrous effects have been recorded only two times, both times in Cameroon, 1984 at Lake Monoun, causing the death of 37 persons, and 1986 at Lake ...

Lake Nyos is one of only a few lakes known to experience limnic eruptions. (Image: Getty) A serene lake in Africa turned blood orange before it tragically killed nearly 1,800 people.