Death by Volcanic Laze

Forensic diagnostic approach of peri‐volcanic area fatalities: About two cases at piton de la Fournaise

“…These features, as well as the scattering of the bodies, may be related to neurological damage that resulted in balance disorders and impaired alertness [20, 26, 28]. As in the case of victim A, clothing scatters have already been described in the case of toxic deaths in the perivolcanic zone [31], most probably due to the confusion preceding death. Indeed, in this case of outdoor poisoning, death by sulfur inhalation was probably not immediate, and incapacitating neurological disorders must have occurred before death by respiratory failure.…”

Gaet’ale- a reactivated thermal spring and potential tourist hazard in the Asale salt flats, Danakil Depression, Ethiopia

“…The CO 2 emanations of lakes Nyos and Manoum resulted from trapped volcanic-derived gas released from sediments at the bottom of deep stratified volcanic lakes, and the release may have been triggered by landslides or some other unknown mechanism (Holloway 2000). Othervolcanic areas that are prone to hazardous gas emissions include the Roman volcanic province (Beaubien et al 2003;Carapezza et al 2003), and places where geotourists are especially vulnerable, such as the Furnas volcano, Azores (Baxter et al 1999;Dibben and Chester 1999), the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Stephenson et al 1991;Heggie and Heggie 2004;Heggie 2005;Heggie et al 2009), and Mammoth Mountain, a dormant volcano and popularrecreation area in California (Sorey et al 1998). In the case of Gaet'ale, the CO 2 gas is also of volcanic origin, but here it is derived from degassing from a near-surface magma chamber, which has triggeredfumarolic and phreato-magmatic activity in the past (Darrah et al 2012;Chernet 2013).…”