53 killed in Cameroon train derailment

A passenger train from Cameroon's capital Yaounde to economic capital Douala derailed on Friday at around 12.00 local time (5 a.m. GMT), leaving 53 killed and about 300 injured, state radio CRTV reported.

The train derailed in Eseka station in Central Region, around 120 kilometers from Yaounde.

A witness who lives close to the station told Xinhua the train derailed when it approached the station, and said the number of casualties is high.

The train accident took place hours after one part of the Yaounde-Douala road caved in following heavy rain in the night. Many passengers to Yaounde or Douala who would use the road had to choose train, leading the derailed train which left Yaounde on Friday morning to Douala taking more passengers than usual.

While talking to state radio after the accident, Cameroonian Minister for Transport Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o said, "What seems indisputable is that the derailment resulted in large, human and material loss."

The minister led a delegation to the site after the disaster by helicopter. Cameroonian Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said on state television CRTV the government is taking mesures to take the injured passengers to better-conditioned hospitals.

--IANS

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