Start cleaning up killer lake, government urged

A team of experts has called on Cameroon's government to start cleaning up Lake Nyos, which killed 1746 people within a radius of 20 kms when it belched out millions of cubic metres of carbon dioxide in 1986. The three Cameroonian scientists said the elimination of poisonous gas from Nyos and another volcanic lake, Lake Monoum, should begin without delay, according to a communique containing their recommendations that the government published this week. The government had sent the mission - a chemical engineer and two geophysicists - to Lake Nyos, some 600 km west of Yaounde, following an explosion heard there on 2 August. The scientists found that "an enormous amount of carbon gas continues to accumulate in the depths of the lake and is growing at an alarming speed, which means there could be serious underwater eruptions at any moment". The gas can be eliminated by sending pipes deep into the lake, where the gas collects, so as to allow it to escape. Limited tests using this process reportedly succeeded in 1995. The experts also recommended a number of preliminary steps, which include creating an inter-ministerial steering committee for the de-gassing project and rehabilitating the roads to Lakes Nyos and Monoum.