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SYS_TIME: 00:00:00.00//LATENCY: 24MS//NODES: 142//BTC_HASH: 000000000000//TZ: UTC//
X: -100Y: -100
All dispatches
// ENTITY_RECORD  //  TYPE: PERSON

Joseph Nkwain

// OVERVIEW

Nexor's dispatch on the Lake Nyos disaster identifies Joseph Nkwain as a resident of Subum, approximately three miles from the lake at the time of the 1986 eruption. According to the broadcast, Nkwain lost consciousness and remained unconscious for nearly twelve hours before recovering. The dispatch reports that he then rode his motorcycle through villages where the dead lay silent, ultimately reaching Wum to report what had occurred. His daughter did not survive the eruption.

// 1 APPEARANCES IN THE ARCHIVE

How Lake Nyos Killed 1,746 People in One Breath — and Why Lake Kivu Could Do It at 250 Times the Scale
// FILE
2026-04-17

How Lake Nyos Killed 1,746 People in One Breath — and Why Lake Kivu Could Do It at 250 Times the Scale

On the night of August 21, 1986, Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon released an estimated 1.2 cubic kilometers of dissolved carbon dioxide in approximately 20 seconds, suffocating 1,746 people in the surrounding villages. The phenomenon — a limnic eruption — was unknown to science until 1984. A degassing solution existed within years, but took 15 years to fund. Lake Kivu, 55 miles long and holding 250 times the CO2 of Nyos, remains only partially addressed.

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