Passenger Train Derails in Eseka, Cameroon killing 55 and injuring Hundreds of people Friday Oct 21,2016

 

Fourteen people remained trapped on Friday under the wreckage of a packed passenger train that derailed en route between Cameroon's two largest cities, killing at least 55 and injuring 575, the government said in a communique read on state television.

 

The Camrail inter-city train was travelling from the capital, Yaounde, to the port city of Douala when the accident occurred around 11 a.m. local time (1000 GMT) near the train station in the town of Eseka, around 120 km (75 miles) west of the capital.

Before its departure from Yaounde, he said that a railway employee said additional wagons had been added to the train to accommodate extra passengers, though it was unclear if that played a role in the accident.

The collapse of a section of the main highway between the capital and Douala had prompted increased numbers of passengers to undertake the journey by rail.

The two incidents, which occurred on the same day, have now effectively cut the main transportation axis in the Central African country of over 22 million.

Cameroon's transport minister says at least 53 people have died after a train overloaded with passengers derailed along the route that links the country's two major cities