Deadly gas trapped beneath lake at risk for a catastrophic explosion

A deadly gas lurking beneath Lake Kivu in Africa is at risk of a massive explosion.

Trapped at the bottom of the lake in the Democratic Republic of Congo are deposits of carbon dioxide (CO2) secured by the weight of the water.

But if the water is disturbed, the gas could potentially flare up from the bottom and wreak doom on residents nearby.

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Locals say they are already facing the threat of dangerous gas emissions from the lake, according to various reports.

Residents of Nzulo, a village near the northern part of Lake Kivu, say that the water there is the most shallow region of the lake and that the risk of CO2 emissions is far greater there than in deeper areas.

Fisherman Ragi told DW that he believes the gas has already begun to affect the locals. "If you leave the fishing net long inside the water, the gas destroys it, and if you go into the lake, the skin becomes white. That scares me."

The DRC government is reportedly in talks to fill 360 hectares of land surrounding the lake with 560,000 eucalyptus trees to swallow up the gas.

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Though CO2 is not poisonous, the deadly gas could suffocate the population residing in nearby land.

The same already happened decades ago in Cameroon, Africa, where hundreds of people fell ill and died.

In 1986, Lake Nyos, a crater lake in northwest Cameroon, suffocated almost two thousand people in a single night. Like many other crater lakes, which are formed by subterranean volcanic activity, Lake Nyos contained a high level of CO2 gas.

However, instead of the gas dissipating over time as the water turned over, the lake stored the gas for centuries, making it a ticking time bomb for residents close by.

Once the lake was triggered, an explosion known as a limnic eruption occurred so catastrophic that it released thousands of tons of the toxic gas at a reported speed of 60 miles per hour, annihilating life in a 15-mile radius.

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