Over a year ago - Reuters reported that an entire lake had gone
missing near the town of Bolotnikovo, Russia. ( example link -->
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7921587/?GT1=6542 )
The small-town story got world-wide press because of the funny
comments of one of the town's residents.  Unfortunately there were
never any follow up reports.  The initial conspiracy theories are
funny but obviously false. What really happend to the lake? Or is this
story completely false?

Hi!!


The story appears to be true and the mistery about this strange event
was apparently solved a few weeks after it happened.

BBC News, a reliable source, reported the new on Friday, 20 May, 2005,
15:24 GMT 16:24 UK:
"BBC NEWS | Europe | Vanishing lake baffles Russians":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4566355.stm


Regarding on what happened with the mass of water see:
"The 'Disappeared Lake' of Russia Found 100m Underground (evil
American plot was uncovered?!)":
06/17/05
"(Moscow) The mystery surrounding a lake which disappeared one night
in Russia last May has been finally solved. On May 19th, a lake
holding one million cubic meter of water disappeared without a trace
in the village of Bolotnikovo in Nizhni Novgorod, 250km to the east of Moscow.
Russia's Ministry of Emergency Management assembled an investigation
team made up of geologists and flood experts, which embarked on
'lake-searching' with cutting-edge electronic equipments and
geological surveying tools. As a result, on June 16th, the team
announced their finding that the lake (note: the whole body of water
from the lake) moved down to 100m underground.
Geologist Pavel Ivanov explained, "The lake was located on a
geological structure which is like a Swiss-cheese. The body of water
was rapidly sucked into a biggest hole." The underground cave was
formed 200 million years ago, according to the investigators. Flood
expert Mikhail Leonenko also commented, "Water was drained into an
underground cave through a hole at the bottom of the lake.  The body
of water could reemerge."
The lake is 300m away from the village. According to Russia media,
some villagers believe that God's curse is at work, since the lake
first appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible and there used to
be an Orthodox church at the location."
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1424629/posts


After that there are no news regarding this.


Search strategy:
Bolotnikovo lake


I hope this helps you. Feel free to request for a clarification if you
need it before rate this answer.


Regards,
livioflores-ga

Thanks for the prompt reply and included links.  I'll have to try to
learn more about how such phenomena can occur, but you certainly
answered the question.