Foul lake smell rekindles memories of Cameroon disaster

A foul smell arising from Lake Kuk in North-West Cameroon has caused panic among some of the local villagers

The lake and nearby Kuk village are not far from Lake Nyos, where a sudden gas escape from beneath the water in 1986 killed more than 1,600 people and thousands of livestock.

Villagers in Kuk who went to investigate the smell found that the water had changed colour.

Some then started to leave the area but others stayed put, linking the natural phenomenon to the recent death of a traditional ruler. In other words, the ancestors were responding to his passing.

Kahn Elvis, a geology expert from the University of Yaoundé, said the smell could have been caused by the sudden release of magma from beneath the lake’s surface.

The local authorities have urged people to be calm and said the strange smell and change in water colour was due to the recent heavy rains, Journal du Cameroon reports.